Integrating Version Control Systems in Product Development

Core Capabilities of Version Control Systems

• Tracking Changes and Going Back to Earlier Versions
  The change history saves all edits made to the project. If something goes wrong or bugs show up in the code, you can always go back to an older version and get things working again. History is especially important when several people are working on the project. It helps understand who made what edits and, if needed, roll back to an old version if something didn't pan out.
• The ability to work on parallel development branches
  A VCS lets developers work on different modules of an application at the same time, keeping changes in sync and giving tools to find conflicts and fix them by hand. To work on new features or fixes separately, you create different branches. This lets you develop new things without risking damage to the main version of the project.
• Automating Deployment and CI/CD
  Version control system integrates with tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI, which automatically build, test, and deploy code. This greatly speeds up development and releasing new versions. CI/CD tools help automate code quality checks, find bugs early on, and make it simpler to roll out new versions to production. This makes everyone more confident that releases will be stable and cuts down the risk of bugs.

This way, a version control system doesn't just help manage code well; it also makes the whole development process more organized, safer, and faster.

What is a Repository and How to Use It?

A repository is the central place where all project files are stored, along with all changes and their history. A repository can be local (on a developer's computer) or remote (on a server, like GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).

Before making changes to a project, a developer first updates their local repository copy to ensure it's synchronized with the latest version from the remote repository. After they're done working, the changes are committed to the local repository, and then sent to the remote repository (for example, if you're using a distributed VCS like Git). This process ensures that all team members have access to the most recent updates and can collaborate using the current project version.

How Tracking Code Changes Works

A version control system tracks changes using "commits." Each commit is a recorded code change that's saved in the repository along with a timestamp, who made it, and a description of the changes. When a developer finishes editing, they run a commit command. Then, the changes become part of the local repository's history. To get them to the remote repository, you usually need another step, like a push command.

VCS also gives you tools to compare file versions. With these, developers can see the difference between two versions: what lines were changed, added, or removed. This makes tracking changes easier and clearer.

Plus, version control systems often include ways to check quality before merging branches. For example, they might automatically check syntax or find conflicts to prevent potential errors and make sure code merges correctly.

How the System Handles Conflicts and Errors

Conflicts happen when two developers change the same part of the code or file at the same time. The version control system tries to merge the changes automatically. But if it can't (like if changes are in the exact same spot), a conflict occurs.

When there's a conflict, the VCS marks it, and developers have to manually fix the problem by deciding which changes to keep and which to get rid of. Sometimes the VCS might suggest automatic ways to merge, but a person always makes the final call.

But if the changes are in different parts of the code (say, one developer changes file A, and another changes file B), the version control system merges them without any problems, since the changes don't overlap.

Also, when merging branches, the system can find other errors, like deleted files that are still used elsewhere in the project, or incorrect dependencies. In these cases, the system gives detailed error messages, helping developers quickly find and fix the problem.

Benefits of Using Version Control Systems

Version Control Systems (VCS) are important not just for developers, but for the whole project team — from managers to business analysts. They improve how team members work together by making things clear and easy when tracking changes. VCS lets developers manage code, testers — get current versions for testing, and managers — keep an eye on progress, which really boosts efficiency and coordination.

The main advantages of using VCS are managing code versions (so you can track and go back to old project states) and working together (where changes are synced up without conflicts). They also make things safer and more stable by letting you roll back errors and stop data from being lost. Version control systems easily connect with CI/CD tools, which speeds up automated testing and deployment, making the whole development cycle more predictable and flexible.

VCS plays a big part in making development metrics better, like the speed of releasing new features, how often bugs pop up, and how stable the code is. It gives tools to look at how often commits, rollbacks, and branch merges happen, which helps see how well the team is working and control progress. Importantly, a version control system keeps clear and easy-to-find records of all changes. This lets the team quickly find their way around the project, easily locate old versions, and minimize mistakes.

Finally, VCS integrates with testing and deployment systems. This cuts down risks, gets the product to market faster, and improves the quality of the team's work.

How SimpleOne SDLC is Integrated with GitLab

In the new SDLC version, there's an integration between SimpleOne SDLC and GitLab, aimed at making the development team's work simpler and synchronizing processes better. The integration includes setting up a link between SimpleOne SDLC and GitLab and being able to see information from GitLab right in the SimpleOne system.

First, you need to set up the integration by connecting SimpleOne SDLC to the GitLab server. This can be a self-managed GitLab server, or the public GitLab.com service if your company doesn't have its own. After setting it up, SimpleOne SDLC can interact with GitLab, get data, and show it in its interface.

After setting up the integration, a special widget appears in the SimpleOne SDLC system. This widget lets you see merge requests, branches, and commits related to a task. Linking happens by task number — like how it's done in Jira. To do this, you need to put the task number in the descriptions of merge requests, commits, and branches, and the system automatically pulls this data from GitLab and shows it in the interface.

The main benefit of this integration is significantly improved team synchronization. Developers can track changes made by everyone directly from the task interface in SimpleOne SDLC. This makes it easier to keep an eye on work progress and cuts down the chances of mistakes. You don't have to keep checking GitLab to see what happened with branches or merge requests — all the information is right there in the task system. This simplifies decision-making and improves overall development flexibility, as information on task status and changes is always easily accessible.

Integration with GitLab helps improve software development lifecycle (SDLC) management because tasks and their related code changes are visible in one place. This makes it easier to monitor the current state of development and react faster to all of the changes.

After the integration is set up, repository updates in SimpleOne SDLC happen automatically through GitLab. This lets the system sync tasks with merge requests, commits, and branches, so you don't have to manually update data in both systems.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up GitLab Integration in SimpleOne SDLC

Step 1. Create a host connection. In the navigator, go to the 'Integrations' section, then to 'Connections', and make a new connection.

Step 2. During setup, type in the URL (like gitlab.com) and a personal access token. After you save the connection, it tries to connect to the server using the token. If it connects successfully, you'll see a "Connection established" badge.

• Then, it automatically starts downloading info about groups and projects. You can watch the download progress in the activity feed. If your access token only lets you work with a few groups and projects, the download will finish quickly.
• After you refresh the page, the data retrieval status should display as "completed". In the respective lists, you can see the linked GitLab repositories and groups.
• If you use an invalid token or URL, the system will notify the user that a connection could not be established. For more details about why it failed, you can go to the log journal using the link in the notification.
• You need to create this connection to use the developer panel widget on SDLC task forms. This widget shows merge requests, branches, and commits, pulling them automatically from GitLab.

Step 3. Specify the Project Repository. This ensures that data is displayed correctly in the widget. To do this, in the project form, pick the repositories you need in the "Git repository" field.

• After you pick the repository, the developer panel widget will be available on that project's task form. The widget shows up in its tab, and in the widget, you'll see information on linked repositories, and you can filter it.
• Linking tasks and data from GitLab happens by task number. For the widget to work right, it's important to put task numbers in branch names, commit messages, and in the titles or descriptions of merge requests.
• In the "Merge Requests" tab, you'll see various things like the ID, request title, source and target branches, number of threads, and the status of the latest pipeline. If you click the request title, you can go to GitLab.
• The "Commits" tab displays the commit title, its shortened hash code, and the commit author, who is mapped to the company employee's profile in the SimpleOne system. By default, it shows up to five latest commits, but you can change this number in the widget settings.
• In the "Branches" tab, you see the branch name and the connection it was loaded through. If you need to, you can go to GitLab using a link.

Setting up the GitLab integration and using the developer panel widget help the team work more effectively, making things smooth and clear, and also mean you don't have to switch between different tools so often.

Conclusion

Integrating with a version control system makes managing projects and code much simpler, improving how the team works together and speeding up development. Because you can track commits, branches, and code changes in merge requests right in the task interface, developers can work more effectively, without having to switch between tools. Developer panel widgets give you clear and quick access to important data, which helps the team coordinate faster and more accurately.

The setup process for integration is simple and easy to understand, so you can quickly connect GitLab and start using all its beneficial features. In the end, this integration makes development more flexible and clear, cutting down time on routine tasks and elevates the overall quality of work.