What is a pipeline and what stages does it include…

A pipeline in the context of DevOps is an automated set of steps executed sequentially to deliver software from code writing to deployment in production.

The key stages of the pipeline include:

Build:
- Compilation of source code.
- Running static code analyzers.
- Creating artifacts (e.g., JAR, WAR, Docker images).
```
# Example Maven build command
mvn clean package
```
Test:
- Running unit tests.
- Running integration tests.
- Running functional tests.
- Running security tests.
```
// Example JUnit test
@Test
void shouldAnswerWithTrue() {
    assertTrue(true);
}
```

Deploy:

Deploying artifacts to test/staging environments.
Configuring infrastructure if necessary (IaC).
Verifying application functionality in the target environment.

# Example deployment in Kubernetes
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  replicas: 3
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: my-app
        image: my-docker-repo/my-app:latest

Release/Production:
- Deploying the verified version of the application to production.
- Monitoring stability and performance.
- Rolling back in case of issues.

These stages may vary depending on the project's complexity, development methodology, and tools used. The pipeline ensures continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery/deployment (CD).

What is a pipeline and what stages does it include?