Nascif Abousalh-Neto wrote:
One of the features that attracted me to Ivy was the possibility to
switch between dynamic and fixed versions. While dynamic versions can
help you to keep your code always integrated with the latest and
greatest from your dependencies (specially if backed up by a Continuous
Integration server), a static version can protect you from a buggy new
version and allow you some stability to develop a new feature while your
dependency is churning.
But I got worried after a conversation with a friend from a large
company, which told me that they gave up on using static versions
because they would never converge. Complex products typically have many
"diamond-shape" subgraphs embedded in their dependency graphs, which
creates lateral dependencies that are hard if not impossible to catch
locally. Even if you can detect them early by using tools that can
pinpoint the affected areas in the dependency graph, they are still hard
to solve if they cross team boundaries.
[...]
Has anybody working on a similar scenario faced this issue? Any advise
or suggestion?
There is not one size fit all answer for this I'm afraid. It depends a
lot on the team process. They type of products you are building
internally and if all these products obey the same type of deadline and
focus, team experience, etc...
I have always found that the barrier to any dependency management is not
the tools in any way or any technical issue but it is mostly a human
process. You will spend a full year of frustration of people not
listening and continuously doing weird things and complexify the builds
and processes in amazing way.
I have experienced that several times and it is _always_ the same story
as frustrating as this is. (and large software companies doing IT work
are not any better, I have seen very very very very silly things in 150+
developer projects)
It all depends as well how much the team in question has had to product
development in comparison to short-term IT-type development. The
approach and mindset will be very different between all those people.
Sometimes you will have no choice than to let people do the wrong thing
until they are knee deep in a terrible mess and willing to accept the
obvious.
Human is the most painful part to change management.
-- stephane
