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GitLab vs Spinnaker: What are the differences?
Introduction GitLab and Spinnaker are both popular software tools used in the software development process. While they have some similarities, there are key differences between these two tools that set them apart.
Integration with CI/CD workflows: GitLab provides built-in CI/CD capabilities, allowing developers to seamlessly integrate their code changes and automate the software delivery process. On the other hand, Spinnaker is a dedicated continuous delivery tool that can be integrated with various CI tools, enabling more advanced deployment strategies and workflows.
Scope and focus: GitLab is primarily a code collaboration platform that includes version control, issue tracking, and continuous integration features. It aims to provide an all-in-one solution for developers, encompassing the entire software development lifecycle. Spinnaker, on the other hand, focuses solely on continuous delivery, offering extensive support for deploying applications across multiple cloud environments.
Deployment targets: GitLab supports a wide range of deployment targets, including on-premises servers and cloud platforms. It allows users to deploy applications to various environments such as Kubernetes clusters, virtual machines, and cloud services. Spinnaker, on the other hand, is particularly well-suited for cloud-native applications and provides native integrations with major cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.
Deployment strategies: GitLab offers a set of predefined deployment strategies such as rolling updates and canary releases. However, its deployment strategies are relatively basic compared to the advanced deployment features offered by Spinnaker. Spinnaker provides more advanced deployment strategies like red/black deployments, automated canaries with analysis, and manual judgment stages, allowing for more complex and controlled release processes.
Community and support: GitLab has a large and active community of users and contributors, making it easy to find support, resources, and extensions. It offers both a free community edition and a commercial enterprise edition with additional features and support options. Spinnaker also has a growing community, but it is relatively smaller compared to GitLab. However, Spinnaker has strong backing from major companies like Netflix and Google, which contributes to its ongoing development and popularity.
Extensibility and integrations: GitLab provides a wide range of integrations with third-party tools and services, enabling developers to connect their workflows seamlessly. It also supports custom integrations through its APIs and webhooks. Spinnaker, on the other hand, is highly extensible and provides a flexible plugin architecture, allowing users to customize and extend its functionality to suit their specific deployment needs. It offers a rich set of built-in integrations with various CI services, cloud providers, and monitoring tools.
In summary, GitLab is a comprehensive code collaboration and CI/CD platform with extensive deployment capabilities, while Spinnaker is a dedicated continuous delivery tool focused on cloud-native applications. GitLab offers more out-of-the-box features and a larger community, while Spinnaker provides advanced deployment strategies and closer integration with major cloud providers.
Do you review your Pull/Merge Request before assigning Reviewers?
If you work in a team opening a Pull Request (or Merge Request) looks appropriate. However, have you ever thought about opening a Pull/Merge Request when working by yourself? Here's a checklist of things you can review in your own:
- Pick the correct target branch
- Make Drafts explicit
- Name things properly
- Ask help for tools
- Remove the noise
- Fetch necessary data
- Understand Mergeability
- Pass the message
- Add screenshots
- Be found in the future
- Comment inline in your changes
Read the blog post for more detailed explanation for each item :D
What else do you review before asking for code review?
Using an inclusive language is crucial for fostering a diverse culture. Git has changed the naming conventions to be more language-inclusive, and so you should change. Our development tools, like GitHub and GitLab, already supports the change.
SourceLevel deals very nicely with repositories that changed the master branch to a more appropriate word. Besides, you can use the grep linter the look for exclusive terms contained in the source code.
As the inclusive language gap may happen in other aspects of our lives, have you already thought about them?
One of the magic tricks git performs is the ability to rewrite log history. You can do it in many ways, but git rebase -i is the one I most use. With this command, It’s possible to switch commits order, remove a commit, squash two or more commits, or edit, for instance.
It’s particularly useful to run it before opening a pull request. It allows developers to “clean up” the mess and organize commits before submitting to review. If you follow the practice 3 and 4, then the list of commits should look very similar to a task list. It should reveal the rationale you had, telling the story of how you end up with that final code.
Out of most of the VCS solutions out there, we found Gitlab was the most feature complete with a free community edition. Their DevSecops offering is also a very robust solution. Gitlab CI/CD was quite easy to setup and the direct integration with your VCS + CI/CD is also a bonus. Out of the box integration with major cloud providers, alerting through instant messages etc. are all extremely convenient. We push our CI/CD updates to MS Teams.
Gitlab as A LOT of features that GitHub and Azure DevOps are missing. Even if both GH and Azure are backed by Microsoft, GitLab being open source has a faster upgrade rate and the hosted by gitlab.com solution seems more appealing than anything else! Quick win: the UI is way better and the Pipeline is way easier to setup on GitLab!
At DeployPlace we use self-hosted GitLab, we have chosen GitLab as most of us are familiar with it. We are happy with all features GitLab provides, I can’t imagine our life without integrated GitLab CI. Another important feature for us is integrated code review tool, we use it every day, we use merge requests, code reviews, branching. To be honest, most of us have GitHub accounts as well, we like to contribute in open source, and we want to be a part of the tech community, but lack of solutions from GitHub in the area of CI doesn’t let us chose it for our projects.
Pros of GitLab
- Self hosted508
- Free431
- Has community edition339
- Easy setup242
- Familiar interface240
- Includes many features, including ci137
- Nice UI113
- Good integration with gitlabci84
- Simple setup57
- Has an official mobile app35
- Free private repository34
- Continuous Integration31
- Open source, great ui (like github)23
- Slack Integration18
- Full CI flow15
- Free and unlimited private git repos11
- All in one (Git, CI, Agile..)10
- User, group, and project access management is simple10
- Intuitive UI8
- Built-in CI8
- Full DevOps suite with Git6
- Both public and private Repositories6
- Integrated Docker Registry5
- So easy to use5
- CI5
- Build/pipeline definition alongside code5
- It's powerful source code management tool5
- Dockerized4
- It's fully integrated4
- On-premises4
- Security and Stable4
- Unlimited free repos & collaborators4
- Not Microsoft Owned4
- Excellent4
- Issue system4
- Mattermost Chat client4
- Great for team collaboration3
- Free private repos3
- Because is the best remote host for git repositories3
- Built-in Docker Registry3
- Opensource3
- Low maintenance cost due omnibus-deployment3
- I like the its runners and executors feature3
- Beautiful2
- Groups of groups2
- Multilingual interface2
- Powerful software planning and maintaining tools2
- Review Apps feature2
- Kubernetes integration with GitLab CI2
- One-click install through DigitalOcean2
- Powerful Continuous Integration System2
- It includes everything I need, all packaged with docker2
- The dashboard with deployed environments2
- HipChat intergration2
- Many private repo2
- Kubernetes Integration2
- Published IP list for whitelisting (gl-infra#434)2
- Wounderful2
- Native CI2
- Supports Radius/Ldap & Browser Code Edits1
Pros of Spinnaker
- Mature14
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Cons of GitLab
- Slow ui performance28
- Introduce breaking bugs every release9
- Insecure (no published IP list for whitelisting)6
- Built-in Docker Registry2
- Review Apps feature1
Cons of Spinnaker
- No GitOps3
- Configuration time1
- Management overhead1
- Ease of use1
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