Multi-repository development

This post is part of 101 ideas for agile teams.

Context

It takes much time to build and test the software locally and on build server.

Repositories are big and comprehensibleness is low.

Action

Split the big repository into several repositories. One repository per deployment-unit (what gets deployed together) and versioning-unit (what gets the same version).

What you gain

A more efficient workflow (faster build-, test-times, more responsive IDE).

More structure, resulting in more flexibility and better understandability.

How to strengthen

Scripts to automate working with multiple repositories (e.g. bubble updates in one repository to all dependent repositories).

Package manager for own packages (the output of a repository is a package).

Risks

A bad split of repositories leads to a lot of synchronization work between repositories.

Bad version management of repository-packages can lead to confusion and errors.

More ideas at 101 ideas for agile teams

Many thanks to bbv Software Services for making this blog post possible.