How to prevent builds when another build fails?

Question

I have created many build configurations in Hudson for a single solution (eg. Release, Debug, Test) When I commit something wrong, I receive 1 build failed e-mail for every build configuration. I would like to receive a single e-mail. I think if I could to make one build dependent on the success or failure of another, I could receive less e-mails.

How to do that?

BTW: I use MsBuild, Subversion and NAnt

Answer 1

You can use the build trigger "build after other projects are build" to put projects up- or downstream from one another. Then you typically let the lighter builds go first (like simple compile).

Answer 2

It sounds like you have multiple jobs (build configurations) for the same set of source code that are configured to always build. You could, as someone else suggested, use build triggers to chain these jobs together. However, if all the jobs run on each commit, I suggest combining the jobs into a single job with multiple steps. That way when one step fails, the entire build will fail, no unnecessary Hudson cycles will be spent, and you will not receive redundant emails. To add steps to a build, click "Add build step" and select "Invoke Ant" (or whatever other action you want it to take).