when a server configuration starts to drift away from its intended configuration by either human or system intervention.
— DevOps for the Modern Enterprise, Mirco Hering
configuration drift
2 of our books define this term — and their definitions are worth reading side by side.
environments whose configuration is managed manually often deviate substantially from each other
— Accelerate, in “Chapter 9 - Making Work Sustainable”, Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim
See also abstract environment configuration · bimodal IT · black box mode · build artifacts · canary testing · container images
Filed under DevOps & Delivery