Meister's architecture includes both a browser based Management Control Console and an Eclipse Rich Client Platform client that can run standalone, or inside of the Eclipse IDE as a plug-in. Workflow metadata is collected by Meister and stored in a Postgresql database. Additional information such as build and workflow logs are stored on an Apache Tomcat Knowledge Base server connected via SOAP.
Build Scripts, referred to as Build Control Files (files used by Meister to store build configuration) are generated by a command line program called bldmake. Builds are executed by a program called om. During build execution om performs the deep Dependency Discovery needed for identifying all of the artifacts used to create a binary. This discovery provides the build forensics needed by Meister Insight to bridge production executables back to their original source code and library components.
Meister does not need the use of a version control tool to perform this scanning. In fact Meister can audit what files are not managed by your version control tool, but are used in your build.
Meister manages the build to release process using Workflows, Projects, Dependency Directories, Targets, and Build Services. Workflows execute pre and post build steps in a defined and chained order. Workflows can execute any script including Ant, Maven, Make or Ivy. Workflows are scheduled and managed by two command line programs that run local to each user called omsubmit and omcommandline.jar. Workflows do not manage builds, but instead manage tasks, which may include a build.
Projects mange the builds, meaning the compile and link process. Projects are used to organize collections of binaries to be built together. Projects are assigned Dependency Directories that control where the source code and libraries are found during the build. Targets are the results of a build. Targets are defined based on the unique source code and libraries needed for the build. Targets also inherit the build best practices as defined in the Build Services. Build Services manage at the build engine level, such as MSBuild and Ant, depending on the Operating System and Language.
Following is a list of Meister's Components and their usage.