An insight into version control management in DevOps
The goal of DevOps teams is to adopt the principles of Agile while using cutting-edge tools to boost productivity and deployment speeds. One of the essential tools successful DevOps teams utilize to speed up deployments and cut down on development time is version control, commonly known as source control. Teams of software engineers can collaborate more quickly because of version control systems thanks to the rapidly changing IT world of today.
When it comes to DevOps success, robust version control solutions utilized to their maximum potential are crucial. Let’s briefly go through the fundamentals of version control for the purpose of clarity.
What is version control System?
Many other names have been coined for version control systems. No matter what you call it, it serves the same purpose: to save and track changes to projects across time. You have theoretically utilized a version control system if you have ever used file names like “DevOpsOnesheetFinalVersionMK2.pdf”.
When it comes to open-source projects, Git has become something of a de facto standard version control tools. Tools for version control, such as Git, record all of the revisions made to a project over time i.e. It takes care of version control.
It also maintains details such as when the changes were made, what was changed, and who made the revisions. Annotations explaining why changes were made typically included as part of the submission process in most version control technologies, providing essential context to anyone who reviews the updated version of a file.
Branches can be created from the primary project “trunk” in order to test modifications independently of the original codebase. These can be “merged” back into the main project after testing and verification are complete. With this kind of version control in place, different programmers can work on the same project at the same time without causing dependency problems or interfering with each other’s progress.
Version Control Vs Version Management
Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time. This allows you to track the changes in the file, identify who made what changes, and revert to a previous version if needed. Version control is especially useful for software development, but it can also be used for other types of documents, such as design files, marketing materials, and even personal documents.
Version management is a broader term that encompasses version control, as well as other processes and tools for managing the different versions of a product or service. This includes things like release management, configuration management, and change management. E.g
Significance of version control
Successful DevOpsteams rely heavily on version control. Successful quick deployment in IT departments correlates with well-honed version control practices for many different reasons.
Squashing Bugs More Quickly and Easily
Anyone who has done a significant amount of coding understands that finding and fixing bugs consumes what feels like the majority of the time. Software developers have a well-deserved reputation for being cynical about bugs because of the enormous amounts of time and energy they may waste. Version control’s continuous and granular tracking of changes to projects gives you instant insight into what went wrong.
Constant Development
Due to the inherently competitive nature of the programming profession, collaborating with other programmers on the same project can be a stressful experience. When modifications are made without informing each member of the team, dependencies (when parts of the program depend on other parts of the program to function properly) can cause significant issues. Linking up with the new changes can be a very easy operation, but without awareness of those changes, new bugs can be developed where none were before.
In version control systems, branches are formed so that one engineer’s modifications do not interfere with another’s programming. An additional feature of version control systems is the ability to add comments to each revision. Because of the meticulous documentation of the modifications performed by each engineer, combining their efforts is much easier.
Trusted final product
The quality and dependability of each deployment can be improved immediately by using version control. Thanks to the enhanced visibility of changes and the context supplied for each alteration, version control systems enable collaborating with others a simpler and more gratifying experience. Version control improves communication without making team members spend all day sending memos to each other, which is the most critical aspect of functioning as a team.
Version control in DevOps
DevOps practices promote the use of automation in every life cycle phase. It also promotes the concept of “Everything as Code”. Compliance, Policies, and Infrastructure are all preferred in the form of code. It makes inevitable to use version control system so that one can switch to the new or old version of the policy, compliance or infrastructure as and when required.
Conclusion
Version control and version management systemare essential parts of any development environment as it makes easier to track the changes that are being made in the code. With DevOps, “Everything as code” concept has emerged. Source code, Policy, Compliance and Infrastructure in the form of code help gain better control over the changes being done. This definitely promotes the use of a version control system that can track the changes as well as fetch the desired versions of the code as per the requirement.