Boxen

Tools like Puppet are now a standard means of configuring servers from version-controllable text files written in a standard domain-specific language. What was previously a time-consuming, manual, difficult-to-duplcate process is now a pushbutton operation performed on source files stored in a Git repository. For servers, infrastructure has become code. But what about developer machines?

What happens when you upgrade your laptop or replace it due to failure? How much time do new hires spend setting up a laptop with all your standard tools and components? What parts of your configuration do you consider standard, what parts are unique to you, and how do you negotiate the difference?

Boxen is an open-source tool that combines Puppet, GitHub, and Heroku to bring standardized, automated configuration to Mac OSX development laptops. Use it to decrease the importance of an individual piece of hardware, while increasing the ability of teams to choose configuration standards and individual developers to make customizations unique to them. Finally, infrastructure-as-code comes to the laptop!

About Tim Berglund

Tim is a teacher, author, and technology leader with Confluent, where he serves as the Vice President of Developer Relations. He is a regular speaker at conferences and a presence on YouTube explaining complex technology topics in an accessible way. He tweets as @tlberglund, blogs every few years at http://timberglund.com. He has three grown children and two grandchildren, a fact about which he is rather excited.

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