40 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
# Dagger vs. Other Software
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## Dagger vs. PaaS (Heroku, Firebase, etc.)
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*Summary: Dagger can be used with or without a PaaS system.*
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A PaaS system is a complete platform for deploying and running certain types of applications.
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* The benefit of using a PaaS system is convenience: developers don't have to worry about the many details of deployment: everything just works.
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* The drawback of using a PaaS system is lack of flexibility: only certain types of applications are supported.
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As an application grows, it is almost certain to outgrow the capabilities of a PaaS system, leaving no choice but to look for alternatives. A good strategy is to choose the right platform for each component. Some components continue to run on a PaaS system; others run on specialized infrastructure. This strategy can be implemented with Dagger: each component gets its own deployment plan expressed as code, and Dagger glues it all together into a single workflow.
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## Dagger vs. artisanal deploy scripts
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*Summary: Dagger can augment your deploy scripts, and later help you simplify or even remove them.*
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Most applications don't fit entirely in any major PaaS system. Instead they are deployed by a patchwork of tools, usually glued together by an artisanal script.
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A deploy script may be written in virtually any scripting language. The most commonly used languages include Bash, Powershell, Make, Python, Ruby, Javascript... As well as a plethora of niche specialized languages.
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Most teams are unhappy with their deploy script. They are high maintenance, tend to break at the worst possible time, and are less convenient to use than a PaaS. But when you need control of your stack, what other choice is there?
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Dagger can either replace artisanal deploy scripts altogether, or augment them by incorporating them into a more standardized deployment system. This is a good strategy for teams which already have scripts and want to improve their deployment gradually, without the disruption of a "big bang" rewrite.
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## Dagger vs. CI (Github Actions, Gitlab, CircleCI, Jenkins, etc.)
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*Summary: Dagger can be used with or without a CI system.*
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Dagger is not a replacement for a CI system. It can be used to deploy applications directly from the terminal,
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or automatically as part of a CI script.
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## Dagger vs. Build Systems (Make, Maven, Bazel, Npm/Yarn, etc.)
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*Summary: Dagger can be used with or without a build system.*
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Most deployment workflows involve building: the process of producing executable artifacts from source code. Build systems are highly specific to the type of application, the programming language in use, etc.
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Dagger can integrate any build system into an overall deployment workflow. If a Dagger module is not already available for a particular build system, a custom module can easily be written, and perhaps even contributed to the open-source catalog for everyone else to use.
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