Apple today sent out emails to iOS developers, promoting Xcode's continuous integration feature and offering free copies of OS X Server, which is normally priced at $19.99. OS X Server, which was just updated to version 3.0, is provided for free for Mac developers.



First introduced in September, Xcode's continuous integration feature is designed to allow developers to create bots that run on a separate server, continually building apps, executing test suites, and searching for potential bugs, ensuring that apps are always in a releasable state after code changes.

As an iOS developer, you can now take advantage of continuous integration in Xcode by creating bots with OS X server for Mavericks that automate the process of building, analyzing, testing, and archiving your apps. As the bots do their work on the remote Mac, Xcode on your development machine displays the build and test reports. Bots can generate a regular release for your QA team, be configured to execute on every check-in, and even test your apps on connected iOS devices.

Xcode can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for free. [Direct Link]

OS X Server can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99. [Direct Link]

(Thanks, Anonymous!)