What is the purpose of a feature flag?

What is the purpose of a feature flag?

Feature flags (also known as feature toggles or feature switches) are a software development technique that turns certain functionality on and off during runtime, without deploying new code. This allows for better control and more experimentation over the full lifecycle of features.

What is a feature flag in git?

Feature flagging allows developers to take full control of their feature lifecycles without depending on code deployments. When you merge a feature branch into master (production), it is already wrapped in a feature flag. This allows you to deploy the feature “off” and then gradually roll it out to users.

What is feature flag in DevOps?

Feature flags (called feature toggles by some) are a software development and delivery technique that allows software teams to enable and disable parts of a codebase at the flip of a switch.

What is a feature flag in software development?

Summary: Feature flagging (also commonly known as feature toggling) is a software engineering technique that turns select functionality on and off during runtime, without deploying new code. Feature flags, also known as “toggles”, “bits”, “flippers”, or “switches” allow you to do this and more.

When should a feature flag be removed?

A feature flag whose job is complete should be removed Feature flagging lets you roll out code rapidly and safely. But once your experiment is complete or the rollout has been fully deployed with no chance of rollback, an engineer should remove it as a feature flag best practice.

Are feature flags bad?

These tools are called feature flags (or feature toggles or flippers, depending on whom you ask). Feature flags are a powerful way to gain fine-tuned control over which features are enabled within a software deployment. With that being said, feature flags aren’t the right solution in all cases.

Why are feature toggles bad?

Feature toggles hinder continuous integration They delay integration, so they tend to move away from continuous integration. A risk of this is late feedback – you don’t catch issues fast, because the issue is hidden behind the toggle.

Why you should not use feature branches?

You’ll Waste Time Fixing Unnecessary Merge Conflicts Merge conflicts are the biggest pitfall of using feature branches. Nothing hurts more than spending unnecessary time fixing merge conflicts, especially when a feature branch has been there for a while. But time is not the only factor.

How do you handle a feature flag?

There are a few techniques which can help make life easier when working with a feature-flagged system.

1. Expose current feature toggle configuration.
2. Take advantage of structured Toggle Configuration files.
3. Manage different toggles differently.
4. Feature Toggles introduce validation complexity.
5. Where to place your toggle.

Who should manage feature flags?

Because of the different roles that a feature flag can have, you shouldn’t treat them the same. If you’re using a flag as a release toggle, developers should manage it. If you’re using the flag to run an A/B test, your product manager should manage it.

Does Google Use feature flags?

Feature flags/toggles/controls are a software development best practice of gating functionality, used by companies like Google and Facebook. Functionality can be deployed “off”, then turned on via the feature flag, separate from deployment.

What is the difference between feature branches and toggle branches?

In short, feature branches will give you better isolation, but require you to deal with the pain of deferred integration, and merges. Toggles give you continuous integration, but require you to design/implement your code in such a way that supports toggles, and introduce the risk that unfinished feature code could negatively affect production.

What are feature flags and how do they work?

It acts at the level of the full deployment, not individual features. When using feature flags, the new version of airline-booking-service is deployed to all production machines, but the new features are hidden behind feature flags that limit exposure to a targeted subset of end-users.

What are the pros and cons of Feature toggling?

There are pros and cons associated with this approach. Feature toggling requires very strict discipline as broken/dark code is making it to production.

What is the difference between feature flag deployment and canary release?

Canary releases (also called “canary deployments”) and feature flag rollouts are two common feature release strategies for testing in production, increasing the safety of continuous delivery, deploying faster and more often. Both aim to reduce the “blast radius” of unforeseen problems and build confidence in a new release.