Evolving a Helper Script into a 180,000-Lines-of-Python-Code Project

Explore the evolution of a simple Python helper script into a sophisticated 180,000-line incident response framework in this EuroPython Conference talk. Discover the challenges and lessons learned during the development of GRR Rapid Response, a remote live forensics tool. Learn about taking design shortcuts, leveraging Python's power features, organizing projects into PyPI packages, and implementing continuous integration. Gain insights into maintaining large-scale Python projects, addressing technical debt, and balancing rapid development with long-term maintainability. Understand the impact of architectural decisions on code readability and scalability, and explore strategies for effective testing and automated builds across multiple platforms.

Introduction
Background
GRR
Experiments
Production
Pickle
Metaclasses
InitHook
Imports
Explicit
String literals
Static analysis
Callflows
Inheritance over composition
Fast call flow
SmartDraw
SmartDraw solution
Datastore
Anarchy
Inner Platform Effect
Code Example
Datastore abstraction
Writing tests
Regression tests
Golden files
Testing layers
Python packages are split
Summary
Questions