GitLab this week released an update to its namesake continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that primarily addresses the need to improve developer productivity.
Parker Ennis, senior product marketing manager for GitLab, said the GitLab 14.2 release adds, for example, a real-time Markdown preview capability that makes it possible to have a live preview of Markdown files used to create rich web content that can be accessed either via the web integrated development environment (IDE) or a single file editor. The goal is to eliminate the need to switch from raw code to a separate preview mode tab, said Ennis.
At the same time, GitLab has made it possible to now launch GitPod, a tool for automatically launching development environments in the cloud, directly within a merge request page, while adding the ability to more easily track which groups within organizations have enabled dependency scanning and fuzz testing. Previously, DevOps teams could only track adoption of these GitLab features via an application programming interface (API).
Finally, GitLab is adding a beta release of Build Cloud for macOS that makes it easier for developers to build applications on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) edition of GitLab.
Ennis said in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, adoption of the SaaS edition of GitLab has naturally increased because so many developers are still working from home. Most DevOps teams are now focused on trying to improve the productivity of developers; they are not expected to return to the office any time soon as new variants of the COVID-19 virus continue to emerge, he noted.
The challenge organizations face is that, in the wake of the pandemic, there’s more pressure than ever to build applications faster as organizations race to digitally transform business processes. As a result, the productivity of developers working in physical isolation from one another has become a major concern, added Ennis.
The developer experience is also critical because it’s never been easier for developers to jump ship. Not only are developers being heavily recruited, Ennis noted that most DevOps leaders have little visibility into how they are spending their time. It’s relatively easy for developers to scan job sites for new opportunities while they are supposed to be writing code, he added.
It’s not clear how much of an impact the CI/CD platform is likely to have on overall developer satisfaction. However, Ennis noted that the more disjointed DevOps processes become, the less favorably developers will regard their employers. Most developers want to be able to spend more time writing code rather than managing pipelines and workflows. GitLab is making a case for a more integrated set of DevOps workflows based on a CI/CD platform that tightly integrates all the modules that a DevOps team might decide to use. That approach is designed to appeal to enterprise IT organizations that typically don’t have a lot of time and energy to devote to integrating the modules that make up a DevOps workflow, noted Ennis.
Of course, it’s still early days as far as the pervasive enterprise adoption of DevOps platforms is concerned. However, as the pressure to deliver software faster continues to rise, the need to revisit application development processes becomes that much more pressing.
