Companies and Projects Using Gerrit
Google Android Open Source Project (AOSP): One of the largest and most notable adopters of Gerrit is Google’s Android team, which uses Gerrit for managing contributions to the Android Open Source Project.
- Adoption Timeline: The AOSP has been using Gerrit since early in Android's development, with the platform becoming the official version control system for Android in 2009.
Eclipse Foundation: The Eclipse Foundation uses Gerrit for code reviews across many of its projects, emphasizing the tool's capability to handle contributions from a vast community.
- Adoption Timeline: Eclipse made the transition to Gerrit for its projects around 2011.
MediaWiki: The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia and related projects, also uses Gerrit for managing MediaWiki, the software behind Wikipedia.
- Adoption Timeline: Wikimedia adopted Gerrit in 2012, transitioning from an earlier system.
OpenStack: This open-source cloud computing platform is another significant user of Gerrit, demonstrating the tool's ability to manage complex, collaborative projects.
- Adoption Timeline: OpenStack has been using Gerrit since its early days around 2011.
Key Figures
- Shawn Pearce: The original creator of Gerrit, Shawn Pearce was deeply involved with the Git community and contributed significantly to Git tooling. His work on Gerrit began around 2008.
Influence and Evolution
Continuous Integration (CI): Many companies have integrated Gerrit with Jenkins, a popular CI tool, to streamline their development workflows.
Code Review Culture: Gerrit’s emphasis on code review has influenced many organizations to adopt rigorous review processes, enhancing code quality and collaboration.
Deprecation and Signs of Aging
User Interface: Gerrit's interface, while functional, has often been critiqued for not being as intuitive or modern as those of other tools like GitHub or GitLab.
Feature Pace: The open-source community continues to contribute to Gerrit, but the pace of introducing cutting-edge features may lag behind proprietary services or those with a more extensive contributor base.
Conclusion
Gerrit has been widely adopted by a variety of organizations and has played a crucial role in the evolution of code review practices. While it has shown signs of aging, particularly in its user interface, the tool remains a staple in many development ecosystems due to its powerful features and the strong community that supports it.
