5 Reasons to Add Compatibility Testing To Your Distribution Stack

Compatibility testing is an emerging practice in software distribution that ensures applications can be successfully deployed across various combinations of Kubernetes distributions, versions, and configurations, such as OpenShift, EKS, and GKE. This testing is crucial for anticipating and resolving environment-specific issues before they impact customers, facilitating smoother deployments and reducing the need for extensive back-and-forth troubleshooting. By integrating compatibility testing into the CI/CD pipeline, software teams can confidently release new versions, knowing they will function correctly in diverse environments. This proactive approach not only improves customer satisfaction by preventing deployment issues but also streamlines internal processes, allowing teams to focus more on development rather than constant debugging. Replicated's Compatibility Matrix is highlighted as a tool that aids in implementing this strategy, offering solutions for vendors distributing software to self-hosted environments.