The conventional software development process looks like this. You and your colleagues have your own copy of the repository. Each of you uses your own copy to develop new features locally before pushing them to a shared repository.
You might work on a new feature for several days before sharing your changes with your colleagues. At the same time, your colleagues have also been building features on their local copies of the repository. Once each of you start merging changes to the shared repository, testing needs to be performed to validate whether the new features are working as expected.
However, different pieces of code don’t always work well together. Now, you and your colleagues need to find out which set of changes caused the problem. This can be a time-consuming process and can negatively impact time to market as each developer was responsible for manually integrating new code.
To solve this problem of integration hell, continuous integration was introduced. It speeds up this process by performing the build and test steps automatically each time you merge your changes into a designated branch.
Continuous Integration
In this blog, we will highlight what continuous integration is, how it streamlines and accelerates the software development lifecycle.
What is Continuous Integration?
Continuous integration (CI) is a software development practice where developers integrate new code into the code base throughout the development cycle. It means that when the code is submitted, CI tools create the iteration of the build and run automated tests to detect and validate the build. The main objective of CI is to detect and locate errors quickly.
Why is Continuous Integration Needed?
When developers integrated their code, it often didn’t work well together. Feedback on integration issues was frequently delayed, and inconsistent integrations made it difficult for teams to identify which change introduced a bug. As a result, debugging became an arduous and time-intensive process.
A continuous integration approach ensures that when new code is added to a central repository (typically, multiple times a day), it triggers an automated build and test sequence. If any issues are discovered during the test phase, the CI platform blocks the code from merging and alerts the team so they can quickly fix any errors.
Thus, the continuous integration approach allows development teams to detect and fix errors before they affect software performance, resulting in higher-quality software and more predictable delivery schedules.
integration
Key Continuous Integration Components and Processes
The exact configuration of a continuous integration system varies depending on the business requirements. However, there are certain components that every continuous integration system uses. These are listed below.
Central Source Code Repositories
A central repository is where all developers commit their code. The central repository is managed by version control systems. Whenever the code is committed by the developer, the central repository keeps track of it. The complete history of code changes is maintained here so that developers can collaborate more effectively to address issues.
Repositories also facilitate parallel development leveraging branching strategies. The development teams can create feature and short-lived branches for software development and merge their work back to the main code branch once it is complete.
Continuous Integration Servers
Continuous integration servers are used to centralize all CI operations and provide a reliable platform for software development. They can be configured to build various projects for different platforms. They model and visualize workflows (for continuous delivery) and provide interfaces for building continuous delivery (CD) pipelines. They run automated builds, tests and releases, orchestrate version control protocols, monitor code repositories, handle status reporting and support plug-ins that can enhance system functionality.
Code Integration
With continuous systems, developers can submit code changes several times a day, prioritizing small, focused changes to specific features. With tools, teams can pull (description) and merge requests.
Build Automation
Continuous integration tools monitor the central repository for code changes. If a change is detected, build servers trigger the build process and execute predefined workflows and build scripts, compiling and packaging the code to test and deployment in production.
Automated testing
Before merging the code in the code base, a range of tests (unit tests, functional tests, or integration tests) are executed to validate the code. At times, end-to-end testing is used to validate software by simulating user interactions to verify that the software behaves correctly from a user’s perspective.
Feedback Mechanisms
If a test fails, Continuous Integration (CI) servers immediately alert developers, prompting them to prioritize fixing the code to keep the main branch deployable.
When the build succeeds, CI servers generate versioned artifacts—such as compiled binaries, Docker images, or installers—that are stored in artifact repositories for further testing and deployment.
Continuous integration tools log integration attempts, success rates, and other key metrics, ensuring the team has access to detailed version history and documentation at all times.
How Continuous Integration Works
Continuous integration works as follows:
Commit: The developers push their code changes to a shared repository, often multiple times a day. It ensures that the new code is consistently integrated with the existing codebase.
Build: When the code change is committed, continuous integration tools automatically build the application to ensure that the new code works with the existing codebase and the application is deploy-ready.
Test: After the build process, automated tests are executed to understand the changes’ impact on the application. Some common tests include unit tests, integration tests, security and compliance scans, and code quality checks.
Inform: Continuous integration servers provide quick feedback to development teams regarding the success or failure of their code changes. Due to this, developers can iterate quickly without wasting any time.
Integrate: Once the build and test processes are complete successfully, the changes are automatically merged into the main branch. It helps in keeping all members on the same page.
Deploy: Continuous integration often combines with continuous delivery (CD). CD automates deployment pipeline. Once the code is passed, it is automatically deployed to staging environments for further evaluation or sent directly to the production environment, depending on the organization’s policies.
By automating the integration, build, and testing processes, continuous integration practice reduces the time and effort required to deploy new features and updates, enabling organizations to deliver high-quality products rapidly and reliably.
Continuous Integration Benefits
Continuous integration can help improve developer productivity, while reducing errors and bugs released to customers.
It also enables your team to discover and address bugs earlier during the development phase in order to help you avoid post-production surprises.
Additionally, continuous integration speeds up the software delivery process and helps your team to deliver and update applications faster and more frequently.
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