Gradle is an open source build system. Gradle boasts a rich API and mature ecosystem of plugins and integrations to support automation. Users can model, integrate and systematize the delivery of software from end to end.
Mostly it is very suitable for any product based company who wants to add a CI system for their products. This tool is perfectly suitable for a company which releases builds very frequently. By using this tool they can reduce a tremendous amount of manual effort. If company's budget is not high and if they can not afford the premium plan then this tool won't be suitable for them because the basic version of this tool won't provide much functionality
Gradle Build Tool is more suitable with the Java projects. It has helped us to automate the build part of the devops cycle. Its configuration and Groovy script is really easy to understand and can be implemented with ease. It can be used both for automation and manual buids of the projects. Gradle Build Tool is easy to use and easy to integrate.
First thing is this tool is scalable which is the biggest advantage of this tool. It won't take much time in setup and making it ready. It has a very good user interface.
This tool has almost every source code repository support like Git, SVN, Microsoft Foundation Server etc. Moreover, it has very good support for various build tools like Visual Studio, MSBuild etc., which makes it even batter.
We can trigger multiple builds at a time with the Premier subscription.
It allows users to apply many deep levels of configurations which make the whole system even easier.
Gradle's methods to manipulate files is very flexible. It minimizes the amount of code one has to write to copy, move, or expand zip or tar files.
Gradle uses Groovy, which is a Java like language. This allows for most computer engineers to come up to speed fairly quickly, for writing or maintaining gradle code.
Gradle also supports DSL (Domain Specific Language), which is based on Groovy. The DSL language allows engineers to automate build jobs that otherwise could be very cumbersome to maintain or modify.
Mostly I don't have much more recommendation for improvement because this tool provides almost everything which would be required in any continuous integration system. But still I would suggest improvement in the reporting system. The build report is a field where they can make improvement by adding more information if they want.
I'd like to see a way to specify how to run only certain tests in parallel, I tried this feature and for tests that involve interaction with SQL Databases sometimes I can't because of deadlocks.
Not sure if there is something else, gradle has been working really good for us and they are adding improvements all the time which is awesome. I used to think the performance is a deal but the latest versions are addressing this issue very well
I have tried to use Gradle for projects several times in the past, but there is just so much work in maintaining the build file that it quickly becomes untenable. I have been using Maven for many years, and even though the build file can be complex, it works without maintenance between releases.
Gradle has been an excellent tool for Android development. It has helped us create multiple versions of the app for different environments. It also takes care of all the packaging needs in the background without having to write all the code related to that. It is a no brainer to use Gradle with Android applications.
In my previous company I have used Jenkins for maintaining their CI system. Even this tool is also very good. The good thing about this tool is it’s an open source project. So in terms of pricing, we can consider this tool as an alternative to continua CI. One has to compare both of the products before going to use any one because both have their own benefits and drawbacks.
[Gradle is] a more modern version of open source build tools like Ant and Maven. Whereas the build config was XML files which were tedious and error prone, the modern DSL usage of Groovy to write these build files is a great advancement. Also these config files can be inherited from top level to each associated project.
Basically, this tool will reduce manual effort of creating, deploying and testing software products. So ultimately it will reduce manpower which would otherwise be required for such things.
It is time saving and improves the overall performance of the entire team and system.
In a distributed development environment, once we established a strong CI/CD model, Gradle proved to be a great choice to automate the various processes. Gradle also provides much flexibility, which is essential in today's development environment. The important benefit is that the CI/CD engineers can support development's needs quickly and reliably. This in turn supports faster testing and deployment, which generates higher ROI.
