JetBrains, the creator of more than 10 language-specific integrated developmental environments (IDEs), has teamed with Gitpod, the open source platform for automated developer environments, in what they call “a long-term partnership” that will result in “a deep, technical integration between their platforms,” according to a statement. The primary form that integration will manifest in, at least immediately, is in JetBrains’ many IDEs being able to use the automated, cloud-based developer environments provisioned by Gitpod.
Much like how containers abstract away the individual requirements of a particular developer environment, so that code that works on one machine will work on any other machine, GitPod’s automated, cloud-based developer environments free developers from matching their environment to the one used by their company. Gitpod uses Linux containers that have root/sudo, file system, Docker and all the other binaries and tools that run on Linux. This setup gives its users an easy-to-use and automated environment.
“That gives essentially every developer that peace of mind, where they do not need to fight with dependencies or maintaining their local developer environment. Instead, they just click a button and then are able to be creative and write code,” explained Johannes LandgrafGitpod’s cofounder and CCO.
JetBrains announced recently that they would support remote development through the launch of JetBrains Gateway. Landgraf said it was this announcement, alongside the widespread use of JetBrains’ IDEs by developers, was more than enough to begin talks about a partnership.
“You have a company that is building the world’s most professional and best IDEs out there, and you have Gitpod, who is really focused and specialized on that orchestration and automation platform in the background,” said Landgraf. “With the partnership, we bring those two things together, allowing developers to stay with their local desktop IDE, but swap compute, and run their workloads in the cloud provisioned and automated by Gitpod.”
Remote Development: The Era
Both teams see the time as a good time to increase access to tools to support remote development, given the rapid push towards remote work during the pandemic. Landgraf stated that 2021 was a turning point in remote development with tools like GitHub CodespacesVisual Studio Code in the browser. He predicts that there will be further development in this area by 2022.
“We’re really entering the era of remote development,” said Landgraf. “More and more people will realize that this is actually a very valid option and a superior option to how we are doing things right now.”
Source: Gitpod, JetBrains
Landgraf stated that Gitpod does not endorse any particular IDE, but rather brings remote development to the places where developers are already.
“We are not asking developers to move into the browser,” he explained. “We are not telling them ‘you need to change your workflow.’ We’re essentially telling them: use the tools that you always use, but enjoy the benefits of automating the backends and your whole development environment, and provision that in the cloud with all the developer experience, collaboration and security benefits that come with this.”
Mikhail VinkJetBrains’ Global Marketing Programs Manager said remote development does more than make developers more efficient. He said that remote development also offers greater security, as source code security is one example.
“Before this switch, many security-strict or regulated companies would prohibit their employees from taking the source code home, but now it is not possible and the source code constantly resides on the developers’ laptops, or employees have to connect to the remote desktop, which is unstable and inconvenient,” explained Vink, pointing to changes induced by remote work during the pandemic. “Remote development workflow mitigates the risk, as developers connect their client IDE to the remote development environment where the source code is located, and no source code is copied to the developer’s machine.”
Vink also stated that the partnership between JetBrains and Gitpod offers remote development to companies who might not otherwise be able to do so. Citrix, for instance, has an enterprise cost and requires the team to set it all up and get it running. JetBrains and Gitpod, on the other hand, are more cost-effective and easier to get up and running.
“What is happening is basically the path to democratizing this access to the remote development solutions, lowering the barrier of entry so that more companies, and not just enterprise, can go there,” said Vink.
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Gitpod and JetBrains featured image
