GitLab 11.3 released with support for Maven repositories, protected environments and more

GitLab 11.3 was released on Saturday with support for Maven repositories, Code Owners, Protected Environments and other changes. These new added features help in automation of controls around environments and code while also providing further efficiencies for Java developers.

Maven repositories in GitLab 11.3

Maven repositories are now directly available in GitLab. This gives Java developers a secure, standardized way to share version control in Maven libraries. It also saves time by reusing these libraries across projects but it is available only on GitLab premium.

Lower-level services can now have their packaged libraries published to their project’s Maven repository. They can share a simple XML snippet with other teams to utilize the library while Maven and GitLab do the rest.

Code owners and protected environments

GitLab Starter now supports assignment of Code Owners to files indicating the appropriate team members contributing to the code. This is a primer for future releases, which will enforce internal controls at the code level.

Operators can also use Protected Environments for setting permissions to determine which users can deploy code to production environments. This significantly reduces the risk of an unintended commit. This feature is also available only on premium.

Epic forecasting with integrated milestone dates

The new Portfolio Management feature in GitLab Ultimate forecasts an epic's start and end dates automatically based on the milestone dates of its issues. Portfolio managers will be able to compare their planned start and end dates against the scheduled work enabling faster decisions on delivery and plan adjustments.

In older versions, fixed values could be set for the planned start and end dates of an epic. This was useful for high-level planning of epics. However, as issues are attached to the epic and the issues are scheduled for work with actual milestones, it is useful to have epic dates reflecting those milestones.

In this version, the static values for the dates can be changed to a dynamic value called ‘From milestones’. The dynamic version of epic planned end dates are analogous. This is a useful feature to have if you want seamless transition from high-level, top-down planning to micro-level, and bottom-up planning.

For more information, visit the GitLab website.

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