Every developer is familiar with the problem of constantly switching between different tools – GitLab, task trackers, and so on. This not only slows down work but also increases the likelihood of errors. Integrating GitLab with product development management systems solves this problem, allowing you to work with code and tasks in a single interface. In this article, we’ll discuss how integration helps speed up development processes, improve information accessibility, and enhance team coordination.
What is a Version Control System?
A Version Control System (VCS) is a tool that allows you to track changes in source code, documentation, and other project files. With a VCS, you can save change history, manage file versions, and collaborate on a project while minimizing the risks of data loss and conflicts when merging code.
There are 3 types of version control systems:
| Type of VCS | Example | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Local | RCS | All data is stored locally. Suitable for individual work. |
| Server-based | CVS | Centralized model where data is stored on a server, but access to it is limited. |
| Distributed | Git, Mercurial | Each developer has a complete copy of the repository, which improves flexibility and work speed. |
How Version Control Systems Work
No matter how the code changes, a version control system always records these changes, helping the team work smoothly and without failures. VCS coordinates development and maintains project stability. Let’s explore how it works and what functionality it provides.
Key Features of Version Control Systems
Tracking Changes and Reverting to Previous Versions
Change history saves all edits made to the project. If something goes wrong or errors appear in the code, you can always return to an earlier version and restore a working state. This history is especially important when multiple people are involved in the project. The change history helps understand who made what changes and, if necessary, roll back to an old version if something doesn’t work.
Support for Parallel Development Branches
VCS allows developers to work on different modules of the application simultaneously, synchronizing changes and providing tools to identify conflicts and resolve them manually. Separate branches are created for parallel work on new functionality or fixes to the current version, allowing new features to be developed without risking damage to the main project version.
Automation of Deployment Process and CI/CD
The version control system integrates with tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI, which automatically build, test, and deploy code. This significantly speeds up the development and release process of new versions. CI/CD tools help automate code quality checks, detect errors early in development, and simplify the process of deploying new versions to production, increasing confidence in release stability and reducing the risk of bugs.
Thus, a version control system not only helps efficiently manage code but also makes the entire development process more organized, secure, and fast.
What is a Repository and How to Use It
A repository is the central storage for all project files, where all changes and their history are saved. A repository can be local (located on the developer’s computer) or remote (on a server, for example, GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).
When a developer makes changes to the project, they first update their local copy of the repository to synchronize with the current version in the remote repository. After completing work, changes are committed to the local repository and then pushed to the remote repository (for example, when using a distributed version control system like Git). This ensures that all team members will have access to the latest changes and can work with the current version of the project.
How Code Change Tracking Works
The version control system tracks changes through commits. Each commit represents a recorded code change that is saved in the repository along with a timestamp, author information, and a description of the changes. When a developer finishes editing, they execute the commit command, after which the changes become part of the local repository’s history. To synchronize these changes with the remote repository, an additional action is required, such as a push command.
VCS also provides tools for comparing file versions. With these, developers can see the difference between two versions: which lines were changed, added, or removed. This makes the process of tracking changes more convenient and transparent.
Additionally, version control systems often include mechanisms for quality checks before merging branches. For example, they can perform automatic syntax checks or identify conflicts to eliminate potential errors and ensure correct code integration.
How the System Handles Conflicts and Errors
Conflicts arise when two developers simultaneously make changes to the same part of the code or file content. The version control system automatically attempts to merge changes, but if it can’t do so (for example, due to changes in the same place in the code), a conflict occurs.
When a conflict happens, the VCS marks it, and developers must manually resolve the issue by choosing which changes to keep and which to discard. In some cases, the VCS may suggest automatic merge options, but the final decision always rests with the human.
If the changes affect different parts of the code (for example, one developer changes file A, and another changes file B), the version control system merges them without problems, as the changes don’t intersect.
Additionally, when merging branches, the system can detect other errors, such as deleted files that are used elsewhere in the project or incorrect dependencies. In such cases, the system provides detailed error messages, helping developers quickly locate and solve the problem.
Why Use Version Control Systems
Version Control Systems (VCS) play an important role not only for developers but for the entire project team – from managers to business analysts. They improve work synchronization between participants, ensuring transparency and convenience in tracking changes. VCS allow developers to manage code, testers to receive up-to-date versions for testing, and managers to monitor progress, which significantly improves efficiency and coordination.
The main advantages of using VCS include code version management, which allows tracking and reverting to previous project states, as well as collaborative work, where changes are synchronized without conflicts. They also provide security and stability, allowing to roll back errors and prevent data loss. Version control systems easily integrate with CI/CD tools, which accelerates automated testing and deployment processes, making the entire development cycle more predictable and flexible.
VCS plays a key role in improving development metrics such as new feature release speed, bug occurrence frequency, and code stability. It provides tools for analyzing commit frequency, rollbacks, and branch merges, which helps evaluate team efficiency and control progress. Importantly, the version control system ensures transparent and convenient documentation of all changes, allowing the team to quickly navigate the project, easily find previous versions, and minimize errors.
Finally, VCS integrates with testing and deployment systems. This minimizes risks, accelerates product time-to-market, and improves team performance.
SimpleOne SDLC-GitLab Integration
In the new version of SDLC, integration between SimpleOne SDLC and GitLab was implemented, aimed at simplifying the work of the development team and improving process synchronization. The integration includes setting up a connection between SimpleOne SDLC and GitLab and the ability to view information from GitLab directly in the SimpleOne system.
First, it’s necessary to configure the integration by connecting SimpleOne SDLC to the GitLab server. This can be either a self-managed GitLab server, as in ITGlobal company, or the common GitLab.com service if the company doesn’t have its own server. After setting up the integration, SimpleOne SDLC can interact with GitLab, retrieve data, and display it in the system interface.
After setting up the integration, a special widget appears in the SimpleOne SDLC system, which allows viewing merge requests, branches, and commits related to the task. The linking occurs by task number – as implemented in Jira. For this, it’s necessary to specify the task number in the descriptions of merge requests, commits, and branches, and the system automatically pulls this data from GitLab, displaying it in the interface.
The main advantage of the integration is improved team synchronization. Developers can track changes made by each participant directly from the task interface in SimpleOne SDLC, which simplifies progress control and minimizes the likelihood of errors. There’s no need to constantly check GitLab for what happened with branches or merge requests – all information is available right in the task system. This simplifies decision-making and improves overall development flexibility, as information about the status of tasks and changes is always at hand.
Integration with GitLab helps improve Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) management, as tasks and related code changes become visible in one place. This simplifies monitoring of the current development state and accelerates response to changes.
After setting up the integration, repository updates in SimpleOne SDLC occur automatically through GitLab. This allows the system to synchronize tasks with merge requests, commits, and branches, eliminating the need to manually update information in both systems.
Step-by-Step Setup of GitLab Integration in SimpleOne SDLC
Step 1. Create a connection to the host. In the navigator, go to the integrations section, then to connections, and create a new connection.
Step 2. During setup, enter the URL (for example, gitlab.com) and personal access token. After saving the connection, an attempt is made to connect to the server using the token. If the connection is successful, a “Connection established” badge will be displayed.
Then automatic extraction of information about groups and projects begins. The progress of the extraction can be tracked in the activity feed. If the access token allows working with a limited number of groups and projects, the extraction will complete quickly.
After refreshing the page, the data retrieval status “completed” is displayed. In the corresponding lists, you can see the associated GitLab repositories and groups.
If an invalid authorization token or URL is used, the system will notify the user that it’s impossible to establish a connection. For detailed information about the error cause, you can go to the log journal through the link provided in the notification.
Creating a connection is necessary so that you can work with the developer panel widget on task forms from SDLC. This widget displays merge requests, branches, and commits, automatically pulling them from GitLab.
Step 3. Specify the project repository. This is necessary for correct data display in the widget. To do this, select the necessary repositories in the Git repository field on the project form.
After selecting a repository, the developer panel widget will become available on the task form of this project. The widget is displayed in the corresponding tab, and in the widget – information on related repositories, with filtering options.
Linking tasks and data from GitLab occurs by task number. For the widget to work correctly, it’s important that task numbers are specified in branch names, commit messages, and in the titles or descriptions of merge requests.
The “Merge Requests” tab displays various parameters such as identifier, request name, source and target branches, number of threads, and the status of the last pipeline. Clicking on the request name allows you to go to GitLab.
The “Commits” tab displays the commit name, its shortened hash code, and the commit author, which is matched with the employee’s profile in the SimpleOne system. By default, up to five latest commits are displayed, but this number can be changed by configuring widget options.
The “Branches” tab shows the branch name and the connection within which it was loaded. If necessary, you can go to GitLab via the link.
Setting up GitLab integration and using the developer panel widget helps improve team work, making it coordinated and understandable, and also reduces the need to frequently switch between different tools.
Conclusion
Integration with the version control system significantly simplifies project and code management, improving team work synchronization and accelerating development processes. Thanks to the ability to track commits, branches, and code changes in merge requests directly in the task interface, developers can work more efficiently without switching between tools. Developer panel widgets provide transparency and quick access to important information, which contributes to faster and more accurate team action coordination.
The integration setup process is simple and intuitive, allowing you to quickly connect GitLab and start using all its advantages. As a result, the integration improves development flexibility and transparency, reducing time for routine operations and improving work quality.
