build for test != build for release

This might seem obvious to a lot of people - the people who actually do testing, but to everyone who doesn't or just waves a derogatory hand in the general direction it isn't...

The differences manifests it's self in how the codebase is structured in your source control system. A codebase setup for test will have all the dependencies in the correct structure so when you pull the codebase, build the code and execute the tests you don't have to know what or how it's installed when the application is released - seems obvious right!

I've just attempted to do this and low and behold a missing dependency, I don't know the application and I don't particularly want to right now but I'm going to have to spend sometime just to get the code to build - I suspect I need to install some application on the system before I can build let alone test - WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Shite developers and there are a few, seem to think this job is about friction - friction pulling the code, friction building the code, no testing and friction deploying the code. These are the default parts of the job - we all have to do this so it should be automated and frictionless.