On the Interplay between Non-Functional Requirements and Builds on Continuous Integration

Continuous Integration (CI) implies that a whole developer team works together on the mainline of a software project. CI systems automate the builds of a software. Sometimes a developer checks in code, which breaks the build. A broken build might not be a problem by itself, but it has the potential to disrupt co-workers, hence it affects the performance of the team. In this study, we investigate the interplay between nonfunctional requirements (NFRs) and builds statuses from 1,283 software projects. We found significant differences among NFRs related-builds statuses. Thus, tools can be proposed to improve CI with focus on new ways to prevent failures into CI, specially for efficiency and usability related builds. Also, the time required to put a broken build back on track indicates a bimodal distribution along all NFRs, with higher peaks within a day and lower peaks in six weeks. Our results suggest that more planned schedule for maintainability for Ruby, and for functionality and reliability for Java would decrease delays related to broken builds.