Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
34 lines (19 loc) · 2.73 KB

BUS_FACTOR.md

File metadata and controls

34 lines (19 loc) · 2.73 KB
Raw

Ensuring a Bus Factor of 2 or More with Automated Updates using GitHub Actions

This document provides guidance on how to ensure that your project has a "bus factor" of at least 2 using GitHub Actions for automated updates. By automating the update process for the devcontainer.json file, the project becomes less dependent on individual members, reducing the risk of stalling due to lack of knowledgeable personnel.

Introduction

The bus factor is a measure of the minimum number of project members that have to suddenly disappear from a project (i.e., "hit by a bus") before the project stalls due to lack of knowledgeable or competent personnel. A higher bus factor indicates that the project is less vulnerable to disruptions caused by the loss of key personnel. One way to increase the bus factor is by automating critical tasks, such as keeping dependencies up to date, using tools like GitHub Actions.

GitHub Action for Automated Updates

To address the bus factor requirement, we have implemented a GitHub Action that automatically updates the devcontainer.json file. This action runs periodically to check for the latest versions of specified extensions and update the file accordingly.

The GitHub Action for automated updates can be found in the .github/workflows/update_devcontainer.yml file of the project repository:

[URL to the update_devcontainer.yml file in your repository]

This action runs daily at midnight and creates a pull request with the updated devcontainer.json file when changes are detected. By automating the update process, we reduce the dependency on individual team members, increasing the bus factor of the project.

Workflow

  1. The GitHub Action runs on a schedule, checking for updates to the specified components in the devcontainer.json file.
  2. If updates are found, the action creates a pull request with the updated devcontainer.json file.
  3. Team members review the pull request and merge it if the changes are acceptable.

By automating this process, the project becomes less dependent on individual team members for dependency updates, increasing the bus factor.

Conclusion

By implementing the GitHub Action for automated updates, we have taken a significant step towards ensuring a bus factor of 2 or more for this project. This automated process reduces the dependency on individual team members for keeping the devcontainer.json file up to date, making the project more resilient to unexpected personnel changes.

For more information on the bus factor and how to improve it, please refer to the following resources: