Automatic tool detection with Jenkins/Hudson?

What mechanisms exists in Jenkins/Hudson to automatically detect tools that are installed on the Nodes?

For example, .NET frameworks, Visual Studio versions, Setup-Builder Tools, installed scripting language executables, etc.

I'm currently trying to figure out if and how (and whether it makes sense) Jenkins can auto-detect our tools that I have to install on all the Nodes (Salves).

Since our Nodes are Windows machines, hard-coding paths doesn't make sense (IMHO) due to path mismatch Windows 64bit vs. 32bit / XP vs. Windows 7 / different lan开发者_Python百科guage versions.

Also, quite a few tools require installation, so just mirroring over files isn't an option either.

_{Obviously, I could just define a set of environment variables for our tools and use these from Jenkins. But I much rather use/build something that makes new Nodes/Slaves auto-configured.}

You can also read this question as: Is it possible to write a plugin that automatically detects "stuff" on Windows slaves and makes that available as Node Properties? (and where would I start if I wanted to do that?)

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AFAIK, the only tools that Jenkins can natively autoconfigure are Java JDK, Ant, and Maven. I'm not sure what other plugins can do.

You might have to go the environment variables way, or you could create a multi-configuration job that installs your tools onto the slaves, if they don't already exist. This would assume that your tools can do quiet installs, and that you can specify the installation directory (same across all platforms).

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I've gone with the route of having a set of common environment variables for all nodes. Since I have to manage what is installed on the Windows nodes manually anyway -- many tools have installers I need to run prior to using them -- adjusting the environment variables on each node isn't such a big deal. (I have a small batch script that set's up everything via setx.)