RBTools is an extensible set of command line tools, a Python API, and workflow automations for code and document reviews on Review Board.
Today's release of RBTools 7.0 features a nicer command line UI experience, more review request fields parsed out from commit messages, better Jujutsu and ClearCase support, and a whole pile of fixes.
A shiny new command line experience
The command line is experiencing a renaissance, and more of us are living in a terminal than ever before. This release reworks the way that RBTools interacts on the command line to make your experience feel modern and less of an eyesore.
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rbt post has better progress display when posting a review request, showing a spinner and status messages telling you what RBTools is working on.
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rbt status has prettier tabular output showing what you have out for review and color-coding the review status of each change.
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The
--jsonflag (which most commands support) will give you syntax-highlighted results when displayed directly in a terminal, making it easier to read.
All throughout, it just looks nicer. And there's more to come.
Your commit messages now fill in more of the review request
RBTools has always been able to fill in the summary and description of a review request from a commit, but now it also fills in Testing Done and Bugs Closed using the same format generated by rbt patch and rbt land create.
This looks like:
Testing Done:
All unit tests run locally and in CI.
Bugs Closed: 123, 456
Makes it easier to take a landed or applied change and put it back into Review Board.
Plus, RBTools extension authors can build custom parsers tailored to their own conventions, pulling out data needed for your custom fields in Review Board. We can help you build this under a Review Board Plus or Enterprise plan.
Improved Jujutsu compatibility
RBTools now supports Jujutsu 0.42+.
We've fixed some crashes and improved error output when things go wrong.
If you're using Jujutsu for development, Review Board and RBTools will be a good fit for your workflow. We use Jujutsu ourselves, and keep working to improve our support.
And ClearCase, too
We've fixed some rare but tricky issues with ClearCase's diff generation, and improved performance for environments with many regions and VOBs.
ClearCase support is included with Review Board Plus and Enterprise plans.
Plus...
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Several fixes and improvements for applying or landing changes with binary files.
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Moved and copied binary files are now better handled.
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rbt info now shows the draft for unpublished review requests, and for published ones where you're the submitter.
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rbt close's
--close-typenow acceptscompleted, matching the terminology Review Board itself uses. (submittedstill works.)
Those are just some of the improvements in RBTools 7.
See the release notes for the full list of changes.
To learn more about RBTools, see the RBTools downloads page and RBTools 7.0 documentation.
Installing
Most users can install or upgrade RBTools by running:
$ pip install -U RBTools
If you're using pipx or Windows, you can follow our installation instructions to get onto RBTools 7.
Help fund RBTools and Review Board development
If you're using Review Board today, we'd like to see how we can work together. Review Board Plus and Enterprise include full-service support and a variety of additional features.
We're a small business, and paid plans fund continued development of Review Board and RBTools. If your company relies on Review Board, contact us to find a plan that supports your team and helps us keep building the tools you use.