avatarRick Allen

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

4709

Abstract

de> command with parallelism.</p><h2 id="9570">Benchmarks</h2><p id="dc98">Benchmarks conducted on four different repositories revealed that a hot mvnd execution, where the daemon is already running, can accelerate builds by up to 50% of builds that do not run tests or static analysis as this is the most common use-case among developers in our organization.</p><figure id="442c"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*xot8KoV94usih-4e"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><h2 id="77be">Local vs CI server</h2><p id="ac6e">Using Maven Daemon significantly sped up our local builds, making our engineers’ daily iterations faster and more efficient. However, this solution wasn’t suitable for our CI environment with TeamCity. Since we don’t reuse TeamCity, there was no benefit to starting a daemon process in this context.</p><p id="3916">In response to this limitation, we will be exploring the possibility of reusing agents and investigating potential improvements in a different initiative to better optimize our CI environment.</p><h2 id="c57d">Adoption</h2><p id="8fb7">To ensure every Java team at Picnic could benefit from the increased speed of local builds using Maven Daemon, we created a comprehensive knowledge article outlining the steps and best practices. By sharing this detailed knowledge article, we ensured that all developers in our organization could easily adopt and benefit from using Maven Daemon, leading to faster build times and improved productivity.</p><p id="436d">Currently, we don’t have visibility in the adoption rate here, but we are looking into using OpenTelemetry Maven extensions to get more insights into this to better track and advocate</p><h1 id="aceb">Maven Build Cache</h1><p id="6a2a">One of the best ways to speed up builds is to do less. And the best way to do less is to eliminate duplicate or unnecessary work. Why should we want to rebuild and retest all modules in our project if I change a single test, or a small if-statement in a module no other module depends on? We can use a build cache to only execute Maven goals for modules that changed and modules that depend on these changes.</p><h2 id="f90a">How does it work</h2><p id="5cdc">The Maven Build Cache extension enhances the efficiency of large Maven projects by implementing the following set of features:</p><ol><li><b>Incremental Builds</b>: Only the modified parts of the project graph are rebuilt.</li><li><b>Subtree Support</b>: Allows isolated builds of specific parts in multi-module projects.</li><li><b>Version Normalization</b>: Facilitates version-agnostic caching.</li><li><b>Project State Restoration</b>: Avoids repeating expensive tasks like code generation by restoring previous states from the cache.</li></ol><figure id="5b07"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*ehx_WSQV_zw9e68p"><figcaption>The diagram shows that changes in a module (Module 2) lead to it and its dependents (Module 3) being rebuilt, while unchanged modules (Module 1 and Module 4) are retrieved from the cache.</figcaption></figure><h2 id="28f6">Local Build Cache</h2><p id="2678">When working locally, the Maven Build Cache stores the build output artifacts in a designated local cache directory. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how it operates:</p><ol><li><b>Initial Build:

  • </b>During the first build, Maven compiles the entire project as usual.
  • For each module, the build cache extension computes a unique hash based on the module’s inputs (source files, Maven configuration, dependencies, etc.).
  • The build outputs (e.g., compiled classes, packaged artifacts) are stored in the local cache directory with the computed key.</li><li><b>Subsequent Builds:
  • </b>Before building a module, Maven checks the local cache directory to see if there is a cached result for the module’s hash.
  • If a match is found, the cached outputs are restored, and Maven goals executed when the cache was constructed are now skipped.
  • If no match is found, Maven rebuilds the module, and the new outputs are cached for future use.</li><li><b>Cache Management:
  • </b>The local cache can be configured to limit its size and manage the retention of cached artifacts.
  • Policies can be defined to periodically clean up old or infrequently used cache entries, ensuring the cache directory remains manageable.</li><li><b>Key Generation:
  • </b>The unique key for each module is generated by hashing the module’s inputs. This includes source code files, project model (POM file), plugin configurations and parameters, and dependency versions and configurations.
  • By including all relevant inputs in the key, the build cache ensures that any change in the inputs results i

Options

n a new key, prompting a rebuild.</li></ol><p id="4903">The build cache uses hashing to generate unique keys for storing and restoring build results. Correctness is maximized by including all relevant files and functional plugin parameters, while reuse is enhanced by filtering non-essential files and minimizing controlled plugin parameters. Configuration involves balancing correctness and performance through an XML file, <code>buildinfo.xml</code>.</p><h2 id="88d2">Usage in CI</h2><p id="6966">In our CI process, we also leverage the Maven Build Cache solution to accelerate our CI builds. However, for CI, we employ <a href="https://maven.apache.org/extensions/maven-build-cache-extension/remote-cache.html">a remote cache</a> stored in an artifactory instead of using a local directory. In our case, cached artifacts are stored in Nexus. This approach has markedly increased the speed of our Java builds. Consequently, our builds finish sooner and build queues are shorter.</p><p id="d0a3">However, in certain situations, users need to perform a full build of their changes. To accommodate this, we introduced a TeamCity parameter called “Use Maven build cache” with the following options:</p><ul><li><code>true</code>: the cache is used</li><li><code>false</code>: the cache is not used</li><li><code>default</code>: the repository-level setting is applied</li></ul><figure id="51f5"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*cjBQGpXtPyo_8MeafHw1TA.png"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p id="76d0">It is good to note that we currently employ the cache only for builds that do not create production artifacts, as we wish to have these as ‘pure’ as possible. As such, we disable the cache for builds on default branches supporting continuous deployments, and in release builds.</p><h2 id="1253">Benchmarks</h2><p id="12d5">In the best-case scenario, the execution time of CI builds dropped by ~ 90% when execution of every module was skipped, this is how it was shown in the build logs:</p><div id="bdae"><pre>[INFO] Skipping plugin execution (cached): <span class="hljs-keyword">install</span>:<span class="hljs-keyword">install</span></pre></div><p id="72cd">Instead of 10 minutes 4 seconds, the build that was fully cached took only 1 minute 22 seconds. 😲</p><p id="fb1e">Of course, this is quite a rare case to run a build that has every module skipped. The average build time improvement across all Java repositories in Picnic is shown in the picture below. It is noticeable that build time dropped by 62% in general.</p><figure id="3fd7"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*m9KcQpIhbc66wTHDIvttPQ.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p id="97f1">For some repositories, the build time improvement was more noticeable than for others. Projects with many modules benefit more than projects with only a few modules. This can be seen in the chart below showing P75 build times. Highly modular projects see their build times drop from 10 to 5 minutes. Projects with a few modules only benefit little from this improvement.</p><figure id="8e53"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*Qp8AmIXK7M0xzbuc"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><h1 id="d1eb">Conclusion</h1><ol><li><b>Dramatic Build Time Reduction:

  • </b>Build times dropped from 12 minutes to 8 minutes in general. This significant improvement eliminates long waits, allowing developers to maintain focus and productivity.</li><li><b>Enhanced Developer Experience:
  • </b>Faster build times, especially for local builds, lead to fewer interruptions, enabling developers to stay in the zone and work more efficiently. This improvement has contributed to higher job satisfaction and overall happiness among our teams.</li><li><b>Increased Efficiency in CI Pipelines:
  • </b>Using the Maven Build Cache in our CI environment has sped up CI builds, reduced queue times, and made TeamCity agents available more quickly.</li></ol><p id="46a2">These improvements have significantly boosted developer morale and productivity. Reduced build times mean less context switching, quicker feedback, and a more enjoyable workflow.</p><p id="316d">Developers feel more empowered and efficient, resulting in higher-quality code and faster feature implementation.</p><p id="90d2">In summary, the integration of the Maven Build Cache extension and Maven Daemon has transformed our build process, making it faster and more efficient. We are excited to continue leveraging these tools to maintain and further improve our build processes, ensuring our developers have the best possible experience.</p><p id="0bd6">In collaboration with <b>Pieter Dirk Soels</b></p></article></body>

Love on the Edge — Recognizing Relationship Red Flags

In response to Dancing Elephants Press Relationship Column

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Okay, Lovers, let’s look at romantic relationships and those things that can kill them. When I was young and stupid, I dated a lovely young lady. As we got to know each other, I noticed a couple of things that put me off. When she laughed, it was loud, and there was a little honk at the end.

Eventually, I noticed that she had very large feet. Otherwise, she was nearly perfect, intelligent, sensitive, loving, and traffic-stopping gorgeous. I allowed the laugh to push me away. Remember, I said I was stupid? We are not going to talk about this kind of deal breaker.

The real breakers in relationships are like personal commandments — they vary wildly from person to person, but some are pretty universal. These are the big no-nos, the lines drawn in the sand, the “I’m outta here” moments. Let’s break it down with some common examples:

Infidelity: This one’s a classic. Cheating shatters trust and often leaves emotional scars too deep to heal. For a lot of folks, this is the express lane to Splitsville.

Dishonesty: Lies are like termites in a relationship’s foundation. Keep lying, and the whole thing collapses. It’s not just about big lies, either — even little white lies can add up to a deal breaker.

Abuse: Whether it’s physical, emotional, or psychological, abuse is a giant red flag. It’s more than a deal-breaker; it’s a get-out-now situation.

Addiction: Battling addiction is tough, and not everyone’s cut out to fight that war alongside their partner. This goes beyond drugs and alcohol — think gambling or even an obsession with work.

Incompatible Values or Life Goals: If you’re on different pages about major life stuff — kids, money, where to live, even politics, career, or religion — it can be impossible to find a middle ground.

Lack of Respect: Everyone deserves respect. If you’re feeling belittled, ignored, or just plain disrespected, it’s a one-way ticket to the end of the line.

Unwillingness to Communicate or Compromise: A relationship is a two-way street. If one person’s doing all the talking (or none of it), or if compromise is a foreign concept, it’s not gonna work out.

Control Issues: If your partner’s trying to control your every move, who you see, what you wear — that’s not love. That’s a control freak.

Lack of Emotional Support: Sometimes, we all need a shoulder to lean on. If your partner isn’t there for you emotionally, what’s the point?

Inconsistent Life Stages: Maybe you’re ready to settle down, and they’re still in party mode, or vice versa. Being in different life stages can be a deal breaker.

Remember, a deal breaker for one person might be fine for another. It’s all about what you can and can’t live within a relationship. Stay true to yourself and your values, and don’t be afraid to walk away if your deal breakers are getting trampled on.

Walking away from a relationship when one of these boundaries is crossed is a difficult but necessary decision for one’s well-being.

As for personal experiences, I have had to deal with three of those issues. A lack of communication caused the first. We allowed time to pass without talking about our evolving life goals and values. We lost touch with each other’s lives in the deeper sense.

The second relationship died because of a failure to understand and compromise about a career choice. I was an Artist when we met and when we married. After the wedding, she wanted to “fix” me by convincing me to get a real job and become “normal.” This was her thought from the beginning, but she never spoke until it was too late. She was correct in believing it would have ended the relationship long before the wedding.

The third was also a failure to communicate. After more than 12 years, I felt a lack of respect from her. Our serious communication times were less often, and she told me I needed to progress more quickly to keep up with her desires. From there, the die was cast, and no recovery was possible.

Honest and sincere communication would have saved the first and the third relationship. It would have prevented the second. Are we seeing a common thread here about relationship troubles? Communicate from the beginning of the relationship.

You know those moments when two people meet and spend the whole night talking about everything? Pay attention to those talks. Continue that kind of communication for the next however many years you have together. That should ensure that you are together after all those years.

How can you find those death traps before you are committed too deeply? Read this to find out.

Libby Shively McAvoy tells us how to manage the relationship.

If you enjoyed this story, Follow, Subscribe, Clap a lot, Comment, and/or Share.

Relationships
Breakups
Dep Life
Dancingelephantspress
Life Lessons
Recommended from ReadMedium