Continuous Integration (CI) is a collection of advanced software development practices aimed at ensuring that code committed to a project repository is ready for deployment to production. CI is characterized by three key components:

• Automated Builds: Upon committing new code to a project, it is immediately built in a designated development environment to confirm compatibility with existing integrated code.
• Automated Testing: After the build process, the project undergoes unit and integration testing to verify that the new code does not disrupt any core functionalities.
• Small Changes with Peer Review: Developers are encouraged to make frequent, small commits to minimize code conflicts and simplify issue tracking. Code should be reviewed by a peer before being merged into the main branch to ensure functionality and quality.

In large software teams, the complexity of communication and integrating changes from multiple contributors can grow exponentially. Implementing Continuous Integration best practices enhances communication among developers through regular peer reviews and the shared responsibility to maintain a stable build. By reducing the size of changes and running a comprehensive test suite with each commit, CI minimizes disruptions and provides confidence that the project is consistently improving.

When integrating support for new architectures, such as Ampere-powered Arm64 infrastructure, effective Continuous Integration practices simplify the process. CI tools like Jenkins or GitHub Actions can initiate builds across multiple nodes with every commit, allowing for the rapid identification and resolution of issues related to new platform integration.

• Jenkins and Ampere: The Backbone of Modern CI/CD Pipelines https://amperecomputing.com/blogs/backbone-of-modern-ci-cd-pipelines
• Adding Aarch64 to your GitHub CI with GitHub Actions and Ampere Altra: https://amperecomputing.com/blogs/adding-aarch64-to-your-github-ci-with-github-actions-and-ampere-altra
• CNCF triggers a Platform Parity Breakthrough for Arm64 and x86: https://amperecomputing.com/assets/developer_story_cncf_3dcfd979d0.pdf