July 2017 Summaries

Linagora, an open-source company, transitioned its development tools from Atlassian to GitLab, finding significant improvements in their workflow through GitLab's comprehensive features like Git repository management, issue tracking, and built-in Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD). The switch to GitLab, which supports Docker, allowed Linagora to streamline their CI processes by using custom Docker images and leveraging services like MongoDB more efficiently, thus reducing the complexity and dependency management inherent in their previous Jenkins setup. This migration enhanced the readability and maintainability of their CI configurations, eliminating the need for machine-specific configurations and ensuring that tests run consistently in isolated environments.

Code review processes can fail to prevent bugs and misalignments with business goals, leading to software that is difficult to fix and enhance over time. This failure may result from unrealistic deadlines, poor communication, and power dynamics within development teams, where junior reviewers might not assert their insights. Additionally, a disconnect between engineering and business teams can contribute to features that either lack usability or fail to address core business issues, as engineers may not be included in early business discussions. Even when features are delivered, inadequate architecture and uncontrolled technical debt can hinder future development, exacerbated by time pressures and burnout among developers. Addressing these challenges involves fostering empathy across teams, ensuring inclusive business discussions, and cultivating a respectful review culture.

Trello has introduced a highly anticipated third-party Power-Up that allows users to integrate GitLab directly within Trello boards, enabling the attachment of merge requests to Trello cards, a feature available since GitLab 9.4. This integration aims to streamline developer workflows and reduce context-switching by allowing users to search and link GitLab merge requests from within Trello, enhancing the development process. The Power-Up is in its initial iteration, with plans for further enhancements such as creating branches and commits directly from Trello cards, encouraging community contributions hosted on GitLab. Comprehensive documentation is available to assist users in setting up and utilizing the new feature.

GitHub dominates the Git hosting market, but alternatives like Bitbucket and GitLab offer different advantages and drawbacks. GitHub is highly regarded for its integration with open-source projects, though its pricing for private repositories and outdated communication and design are notable downsides. Bitbucket, by Atlassian, offers free unlimited private repositories for small teams but suffers from performance issues and a confusing user interface. GitLab presents a compelling option with its free unlimited private repositories for all users and a rich feature set, including syntax themes, a Docker registry, built-in continuous integration, and third-party integrations. Despite its slower performance compared to GitHub, GitLab provides a robust alternative for those willing to transition from more established platforms. The choice between these platforms often depends on user familiarity and comfort, with GitHub's early market presence contributing to its continued popularity.

In 2015, the Unix operations team at the Province of Nova Scotia began using GitLab for source control, Continuous Integration (CI), and Continuous Deployment (CD) as part of their transition to DevOps practices. This strategic move enabled them to automate testing, integration, and the release of Puppet code, allowing multiple system administrators to simultaneously work on code without conflict and facilitating a peer review process. GitLab's features, such as branching and merge requests, along with its integration with Docker, have streamlined their workflow, reducing time spent on manual testing and increasing confidence in code deployments. Once tests pass, code is reviewed by senior staff before merging into the production environment, ensuring quality and reliability. This adoption of CI/CD processes has reduced operational issues, gained client confidence, and laid the groundwork for future articles on their automated test strategy and collaboration with Communications Nova Scotia. The authors, Steve Zinck and Paul Badcock, have backgrounds in Unix administration and IT, respectively, and have shifted focus toward software delivery and automation, contributing to the successful implementation of DevOps frameworks in their work environments.

GitLab has undertaken a significant redesign of its navigation interface to enhance user productivity from idea to production, following extensive research and user testing. Initial rounds of testing revealed confusion among users between global and contextual content, prompting the development of new prototypes to address these issues. Subsequent testing showed improvement in user understanding, leading to a design that integrates successful elements from both prototypes, such as visible global navigation links and a breadcrumb menu for orientation. The redesign, set for release in version 9.4, incorporates color differentiation to distinguish content types and aims to streamline navigation for users. Continuing feedback from the community is encouraged to further refine navigation in future updates, with options to toggle the new interface on and off to accommodate user preferences.

Trek10 emphasizes automation and repeatability in its processes by utilizing tools like CloudFormation, Serverless, and CI/CD, specifically choosing GitLab CI/CD for its projects due to its history-tracking capabilities through a .gitlab-ci.yml config file. This approach facilitates consistent deployment, allowing changes to CI/CD configurations without leaving the code editor, and provides a robust framework for running jobs in different stages such as build, test, and deploy. GitLab CI/CD's structure relies on YAML to define jobs and stages, allowing parallel execution and customization through top-level variables. The company also focuses on creating reusable CI/CD templates tailored to AWS environments, enabling deployment across multiple regions and stages using the Serverless framework. By leveraging YAML anchors and references, Trek10 streamlines script usage across various jobs, enhancing adaptability and consistency. To ensure widespread adoption of these templates among developers, Trek10 employs a system hook with AWS Lambda to automatically inject templates into new repositories, providing a versatile and scalable solution for development teams.

GitLab's introduction of the Review Apps feature allows for dynamic app environments that are created and automatically deleted with each branch push and deletion. The article explores the integration of Docker with GitLab Review Apps, detailing the process of using GitLab Runner with the shell executor to avoid Docker-in-Docker issues and achieve seamless deployment. Two stages, build and deploy, are set in the .gitlab-ci.yml file, where the build stage creates and pushes Docker images to a private registry, while the deploy stage involves pulling and running these images. The setup utilizes Traefik for request routing and requires self-signed SSL certificates due to limitations with Let's Encrypt in an intranet environment. The article also outlines the undeploy process, which involves stopping and removing containers using predefined names, facilitated manually through the GitLab UI. The configuration aims to enhance deployment automation and is demonstrated in a scalable manner, despite initial manual steps like configuring registry credentials.

Stackpoint.io has partnered with GitLab to offer a comprehensive, turn-key solution that accelerates the journey from idea to production for developers by managing the setup and operation of Kubernetes clusters with GitLab EE. This collaboration allows developers to focus on building products while Stackpoint.io and GitLab handle the configuration and management of tools. The platform enables users to create or deploy GitLab EE clusters on preferred clouds like Google Compute, AWS, or Azure in a simplified manner, supporting quick upgrades and backup scheduling. Operational components such as Sysdig, Twistlock, and Elasticsearch are pre-configured to enhance monitoring, security, and logging. The integration also facilitates self-healing deployments, automatic Docker Registry setup, and secure configurations with Let's Encrypt, streamlining the process of getting a GitLab EE Kubernetes cluster ready for production in just 10 minutes.

In June, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation highlighted GitLab among the top open-source projects with high developer velocity, based on metrics like commits and pull requests, placing it alongside notable projects such as Kubernetes and Elasticsearch. GitLab operates with an open-core model, offering both open-source and closed-source versions but maintains an open-source ethos with publicly accessible issue tracking and modifiable licenses upon purchase. With contributions from over 1,700 contributors, GitLab values input not just in product development but across all company aspects, including marketing, demonstrating a commitment to community involvement. The company encourages ongoing contributions, emphasizing that contributions extend beyond just software development and welcoming community engagement in various forms.