Evolving a Configuration Language at Google Scale

Explore the challenges and solutions of evolving GCL, an internal configuration language at Google, in this 18-minute conference talk from ACM SIGPLAN. Learn about the difficulties faced when attempting to modify a widely-used language with entrenched behaviors, and discover the innovative approach taken to gradually evolve GCL while maintaining backward compatibility. Gain insights into the tools and techniques developed for validating changes, implementing gradual rollouts, and managing large-scale modifications across a monorepo. Understand how a small team successfully navigated the complexities of evolving a critical language used at Google scale, overcoming past unsuccessful replacement attempts and addressing issues such as memory constraints and user program scalability.

[CONFLANG23] Evolving a configuration language in place at Google scale