The Past, Present, and Future of Rails at GitHub

This paper discusses the history of Ruby on Rails at GitHub, focusing on the challenges and consequences of GitHub forking and failing to upgrade Rails for many years. The author, Eileen M. Uchitelle, a Principal Software Engineer at GitHub, describes how GitHub’s decision to fork Rails and not keep up with upgrades led to numerous problems over time, including hiring difficulties, security vulnerabilities, and an increasingly brittle codebase.

The paper then details GitHub’s multi-year effort to upgrade from their custom fork to the latest version of Rails, and the benefits they gained, such as improved performance, access to new features, and the ability to contribute back to the Rails framework. Uchitelle emphasizes the importance of continuous upgrades and the immeasurable long-term costs of not upgrading.

Finally, the author provides advice on how to approach a major upgrade, stressing the need for dedicated teams, organizational support, and careful planning. The paper concludes by urging company leaders to prioritize and value upgrade work, as failing to do so can erode the foundation of their applications.