RailsConf & Balkan Ruby 2019: The Past, Present, and Future of Rails at GitHub

On August 15, 2018 GitHub was deployed to production running Rails 5.2. This was a historic event; for years GitHub had been behind Rails and dependent on a custom fork of Rails 2.3. This talk will visit GitHub's past, including our tumultuous relationship with the Rails framework, and the grueling effort it took to get our application on the latest version. You’ll learn what mistakes to avoid and the reasons why such a difficult upgrade was worth it. We’ll explore what tracking master means for the future and establish that GitHub and Rails are in it together for the long haul.

Transcript

1. The Past, Present,
   & Future of
   at
   

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2. Eileen M. Uchitelle
   ! " #
   @eileencodes
   eileencodes.com
   

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3. I’m a Staff
   Engineer at
   !
   

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4. I’m on the
   Core team!
   

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5. Upgrading
   at
   

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6. The Past, Present,
   & Future of
   at
   

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7. a ♥
   

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8. View Slide

9. Rails is
   born
   2004
   

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10. Frameworks
    are extracted,
    not built.
    -DHH
    “
    ”
    

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11. Rails 1.0
    2005
    2004
    Rails is
    born
    

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12. 2005 2006 2007
    2004
    Rails is
    born
    Rails 1.2
    Rails 1.0
    

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13. I built
    a thing!
    

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14. I’m in!
    I built
    a thing!
    

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15. 2005 2006 2007
    2004
    Rails is
    born
    Rails 1.2
    GitHub
    is born
    Rails 1.0
    

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16. 2005 2006 2007
    2004
    Rails is
    born
    GitHub
    is born
    GitHub
    launches
    2008
    Rails 1.2
    Rails 1.0
    

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17. 2005 2006 2007
    2004
    Rails is
    born
    2008
    GitHub
    is born
    Rails 1.2
    GitHub
    launches
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 1.0
    

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18. 2006 2007 2008
    2005 2009
    GitHub
    is born
    Rails 1.2
    GitHub
    launches
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    Rails 1.0
    

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19. GitHub
    is born GitHub
    launches
    Rails 1.2
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    2007 2008 2009
    2006 2010
    Fork
    Rails
    

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21. GitHub
    is born GitHub
    launches
    Rails 1.2
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    2007 2008 2009
    2006 2010
    Fork
    Rails
    

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22. fork
    repository
    

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23. fork
    repository
    

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24. GitHub
    is born GitHub
    launches
    Rails 1.2
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    2007 2008 2009
    2006 2010
    Rails 3.0
    Fork
    Rails
    

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26. GitHub
    is born GitHub
    launches
    Rails 1.2
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    2007 2008 2009 2010
    Rails 3.0
    Fork
    Rails
    2011
    Start 3.0
    upgrade
    

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27. GitHub
    launches
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    2008 2009 2010
    Rails 3.0
    Fork
    Rails
    2011
    Start 3.0
    upgrade
    2012
    Rails 3.2
    

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28. GitHub
    launches
    Rails
    joins
    Rails 2.3
    2008 2009 2010
    Rails 3.0
    Fork
    Rails
    2011
    Start 3.0
    upgrade
    2012
    Rails 3.2
    Upgrade
    stalled
    

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29. Why upgrade when
    this version isn’t
    causing us pain?
    

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30. Why upgrade when
    this version isn’t
    causing us pain?
    Why upgrade
    when Rails 3
    is slower?
    

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31. Why upgrade when
    this version isn’t
    causing us pain?
    Why upgrade
    when Rails 3
    is slower?
    Why upgrade
    when our fork
    is better?
    

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33. 
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    

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34. 
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    

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35. 
    DEPENDENCIES
    ARE BRITTLE
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    

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36. 
    DEPENDENCIES
    ARE BRITTLE
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    DEVELOPMENT
    IS PAINFUL
    

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37. 2010
    Rails 3.0
    2011
    Start 3.0
    upgrade
    2013
    Rails 3.2
    Upgrade
    stalled
    2012
    Complete
    3.0
    2014
    Rails 4.0
    

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38. 2013
    Rails 3.2
    Upgrade
    stalled
    2012 2014 2015
    Complete
    3.0
    2016
    4.0
    started
    Rails 4.0
    

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39. 2013
    Rails 3.2
    Upgrade
    stalled
    2012 2014 2015
    Complete
    3.0
    2016
    4.0
    started
    Rails 5.0
    Rails 4.0
    

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40. 2013 2014 2015
    Complete
    3.0
    2016 2017
    Eileen
    joins
    Rails 5.0
    4.0

    started
    Rails 4.0
    

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42. View Slide

43. Gemfile.lock (Rails 3.2)
    $ rails server
    $ rails test tests/models/issue_test.rb
    Multiple Rails Versions
    Gemfile_rails4.lock (Rails 4.0)
    $ RAILS4=1 rails server
    $ RAILS4=1 rails test tests/models/issue_test.rb
    

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44. Gemfile_rails4.lock (Rails 4.0)
    $ RAILS4=1 rails server
    $ RAILS4=1 rails test tests/models/issue_test.rb
    Multiple Rails Versions
    Gemfile_rails41.lock (Rails 4.1)
    $ RAILS41=1 rails server
    $ RAILS41=1 rails test tests/models/issue_test.rb
    

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45. Conditional Code
    if GitHub.rails_3_2?
    # code for Rails 3.2
    elsif GitHub.rails_4_0?
    # code for Rails 4.0
    else
    # code for all future versions
    end
    

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46. 2015 2016 2019
    Rails 5.0
    4.0

    started
    2017
    Eileen
    joins
    2018
    4.2
    in prod
    

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48. 2015 2016 2019
    Rails 5.0
    4.0

    started
    2017
    Eileen
    joins
    2018
    5.2
    in prod
    4.2
    in prod
    

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49. View Slide

50. View Slide

51. engineers at $
    for hours = $
    /hr
    

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52. The cost of not
    upgrading
    is immeasurable
    

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53. 
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    

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54. 
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    

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55. 
    DEPENDENCIES
    ARE BRITTLE
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    

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56. 
    DEPENDENCIES
    ARE BRITTLE
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    DEVELOPMENT
    IS PAINFUL
    

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57. 
    DEPENDENCIES
    ARE BRITTLE
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    DEVELOPMENT
    IS PAINFUL
    REWRITE
    IN MICROSERVICES
    

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58. …the stories of upgrading
    being a huge undertaking
    always makes me scratch
    my head - what are we doing
    wrong if its easy for us.
    - HN troll
    “
    ”
    

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59. When upgrading you
    should…
    

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60. When upgrading you should
    build a team.
    

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61. When upgrading you should
    take time to make
    a plan.
    

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62. When upgrading you should
    fix deprecation
    warnings early.
    

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63. When upgrading you should
    plan for the future.
    

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65. You may regret
    forking Rails.
    

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66. You may regret
    falling behind security
    supported versions.
    

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67. You may regret
    using old,
    unsupported gems.
    

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68. You may regret
    using private Rails

    APIs.
    

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72. This was my first
    major upgrade.
    

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73. It’s important to
    remember…
    

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74. It’s important to remember
    to pay debt down
    incrementally.
    

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76. It’s important to remember
    you’re not alone.
    

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77. View Slide

78. It’s important to remember
    the payoff is
    worth it.
    

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79. View Slide

80. The benefits of
    upgrading
    

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81. 
    IMPROVED APIS
    

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82. 
    IMPROVED APIS
    SECURITY FEATURES
    

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83. 
    IMPROVED APIS
    BETTER PERFORMANCE
    SECURITY FEATURES
    

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84. 
    IMPROVED APIS
    BETTER PERFORMANCE
    NEW LIBRARIES
    SECURITY FEATURES
    

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85. 
    IMPROVED APIS
    BETTER PERFORMANCE
    NEW LIBRARIES
    SECURITY FEATURES
    A CHANCE TO CONTRIBUTE
    

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86. The Future…
    

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87. View Slide

88. 75+ Pull Requests
    from GitHub
    

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89. Rails 6.0: Multiple
    database support
    

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90. Continuous
    Upgrades
    

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91. For the first time in
    GitHub’s history…
    

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92. We’re pioneering
    the future of Rails.
    

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93. We have a
    responsibility to
    support Rails
    

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95. 
    DEPENDENCIES
    ARE BRITTLE
    SECURITY
    BACKPORTS
    HIRING
    IS
    HARDER
    DEVELOPMENT
    IS PAINFUL
    

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96. 
    IMPROVED APIS
    BETTER PERFORMANCE
    NEW FEATURES
    SECURITY
    A CHANCE TO CONTRIBUTE
    

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99. a ♥
    

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100. Thank you!
     ! " #
     @eileencodes
     eileencodes.com
     

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