May 2016 Summaries

Charge, a data-only telecommunications startup based in San Francisco, has optimized its engineering workflow and enhanced code deployment efficiency by adopting GitLab Community Edition. With a small team of five developers, Charge aimed to provide simplified pay-as-you-go mobile services while ensuring strict compliance with industry security standards, particularly concerning customer information. Previously relying on raw Git and facing challenges with deployment, the company transitioned to GitLab for its robust features, including a web interface for repository management and code review, as well as Google OAuth integration. This shift has resulted in a significant reduction in deployment times from an hour to just a few minutes, boosting the team's confidence in their code releases. GitLab's self-hosted solution also aligns with Charge's priority for privacy and control over system-critical software, enabling them to effectively compete against larger telecommunications providers.

GitLab recently celebrated its 1,000th contributor, highlighting the essential role of its community in the growth and improvement of its open-source platform since its release in 2011. The company, which has expanded from eight employees in 2015 to 80, now serves over 100,000 organizations worldwide. At the recent GitLab Summit in Austin, contributors were acknowledged for their vital input, including significant features like GitLab Runner and the ability to suppress text file diffs, added by contributors Kamil and Matt Oakes, respectively. GitLab underscores the success of the open core model by appreciating contributors with handwritten thank you notes and special stickers, while encouraging new contributors, even those unfamiliar with Ruby, to join and learn through a supportive community. Special recognition was given to Rémy Coutable for his mentorship and review efforts in guiding contributions to completion, exemplifying the collaborative spirit that drives GitLab's success.

GitLab 8.8 introduces a significant enhancement to its built-in continuous integration capabilities with the release of the GitLab Container Registry, a secure and private Docker image registry that is fully integrated with GitLab. This new feature allows users to manage Docker images directly within GitLab, streamlining the development workflow by eliminating the need for a separate registry service. With the Container Registry, developers can easily build, test, and deploy Docker container images using GitLab CI, benefitting from seamless integration, user authentication, and project management within GitLab. The registry supports image creation specific to branches or tags and simplifies the Docker-based workflow by allowing developers to store, share, and manage their images efficiently. Available with GitLab CE and EE at no additional cost, the Container Registry is designed to enhance the continuous deployment and delivery processes, offering ease of use with no extra installation required.

GitHub's recent announcement of pricing changes introduces unlimited private repositories for paid plans, aligning with the growing need for numerous repositories driven by the rise of microservices in software development. This model, also adopted by Bitbucket.org and GitLab.com, reflects the trend of offering unlimited repositories as a standard feature in Git hosting services. GitLab supports this evolution with its free SaaS version that provides unlimited private repositories, contributors, and continuous integration (CI) runners, aiming to enhance accessibility and collaboration without financial constraints. While these changes are beneficial for small teams needing multiple repositories, costs may increase for larger organizations with many contributors, as seen in cases like Open edX and comments from developers like Thomas Fuchs. GitLab continues to offer free services by monetizing its on-premises Enterprise Edition, which enables them to support a diverse range of users and maintain their goal of fostering an inclusive development environment.

GitLab's mirroring functionality, introduced in versions 8.2 and 8.7 of the Enterprise Edition, allows users to synchronize changes between GitLab and external repositories, making GitLab the central hub for development while maintaining links to other repositories. This feature, known as "Push to remote repository," is particularly beneficial for companies that need to adhere to legacy systems or prefer to keep using existing integrations or hosting services without reconfiguring them. Users can configure this functionality through the Mirror Repository settings, enabling automatic hourly updates or manual triggers. An experiment with a chain of repositories—Bitbucket to GitLab to GitHub—demonstrated the flexibility of this feature, as it allows for both workflow modification and the creation of new workflows. The mirroring capability is available on GitLab Enterprise Edition, which can be self-hosted or accessed for free on GitLab.com, GitLab's SaaS offering.

GitLab has announced the integration of Shippable's CI/CD pipelines with its platform, providing GitLab developers a streamlined application delivery process. This integration enhances GitLab’s existing capabilities by allowing users to manage their code from repositories to production seamlessly, regardless of their technology stack or cloud environment. Shippable supports running builds for push commits, merge requests, and displays build status directly in GitLab, offering a comprehensive view of the development process. Users can configure notifications for build failures through email, Slack, and other messaging platforms to ensure timely updates. The integration is designed to work with both self-managed and cloud versions of GitLab, although GitLab.com identity support is forthcoming. This collaboration aims to provide enterprises with a robust solution for transitioning code from development to production efficiently and reliably, with the added benefit of utilizing container technologies. The integration setup involves syncing GitLab accounts with Shippable and configuring repositories for continuous integration and delivery, ensuring a smooth transition from development to deployment.