Submodule Sanity: Automating Dependency Checks for a Growing Team ??

Our Rhino development team is growing, and that means our processes need to evolve too! To proactively strengthen our dependency management, we automated submodule linking check.

Previously, these checks were handled manually during code review – a process that, inevitably, could sometimes be missed, leading to extra commits and rework. We're safeguarding our codebase by preventing any integration of submodule code that hasn't been properly reviewed and merged. So, We decided to automate it.

Enter our awesome new GitHub Actions workflow! This workflow is specifically designed to:

• Verify that submodule commits are properly merged into their respective master branches.
• Prevent accidental inclusion of unreviewed or unstable code.
• Maintain clear control over our dependencies.
• Also this workflow is licenced under MIT, so you can use the code on our repository or fork it. To access it, use this GitHub repo link: https://github.com/Akhrameev/SubmoduleMerged_Check

With the support of Google Gemini 2.0 Flash, I was able to develop and debug this workflow in record time. The AI's insights were particularly valuable in identifying and resolving subtle issues, ensuring the workflow was fully functional and reliable.

The best part? This workflow was put to the test immediately and successfully caught two ongoing pull requests that linked to unmerged submodule commits! This allowed our amazing developer, Aleksandra Ivankova , to quickly resolve the issues and ensure the stability of our codebase.

This is a step we are taking into the future of automation, and security to enable our team to do it better everyday!

Automating that critical but repetitive check freed us to have control on what our dependency and commit code is set on - this is important to enable our team to reach high performance and deliver value at our work. And also is helping to maintain great mental health for all our developers in this project.

What automation tools and workflows are you using to improve your development processes? Share your insights in the comments! ?? #GitHubActions #WorkflowAutomation #AI #SoftwareDevelopment #DevOps #Teamwork #GoogleGemini