I have the following gitlab-ci.yml: (only showing relevant code)
stages:
- unitTest
- deploy-fn-development
- deploy-fn-rehearse
- deploy-fn-prod
include: "/ci_templates/.create-variables.yml"
And this is what the include file looks like:
default:
before_script:
- etc.
The code works and creates the variables I need at every stage in the pipeline. But now I need to only run the create-variables.yml in rehearse and production stages
Is there a way to do this with the current structure? or do I have to remove it as a general include and somehow include the create-variables.yml at each specific stage I want to run it?
Thanks
You can override before_script or configure inheritance on a per-job basis.
default:
before_script:
- echo "default before_script"
some_job:
# ...
before_script:
- echo "overrides before_script"
You can also configure whether a job inherits properties from default: by using the inherit: key.
some_job:
inherit:
default: false # this job won't inherit any `default:` keys
There is no mechanism to apply such changes on a per-stage basis.
Related
In Gitlab CI it is possible to include one or many files in a .gitlab-ci.yml file.
It is even possible to nest these includes.
See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/includes.html#using-nested-includes.
How can I see the resulting CI file all at once?
Right now, when I debug a CI cycle, I open every single include file and
combine the resulting file structure by myself. There has to be a better way.
Example
Content of https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml:
variables:
POSTGRES_USER: user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: testing_password
POSTGRES_DB: $CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG
production:
stage: production
script:
- install_dependencies
- deploy
environment:
name: production
url: https://$CI_PROJECT_PATH_SLUG.$KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN
only:
- master
Content of .gitlab-ci.yml:
include: 'https://company.com/autodevops-template.yml'
image: alpine:latest
variables:
POSTGRES_USER: root
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secure_password
stages:
- build
- test
- production
production:
environment:
url: https://example.com
This should result in the following file structure:
image: alpine:latest
variables:
POSTGRES_USER: root
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secure_password
POSTGRES_DB: $CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG
stages:
- build
- test
- production
production:
stage: production
script:
- install_dependencies
- deploy
environment:
name: production
url: https://example.com
only:
- master
→ How can I see this output somewhere?
Environment
Self-Hosted GitLab 13.9.1
As I continued to search for a solution, I read about a “Pipeline Editor“ which was released in GitLab version 13.8 this year. Turns out that the feature I am looking for was added to this editor just some days ago:
Version 13.9.0 (2021-02-22) „View an expanded version of the CI/CD configuration” → see Release Notes for a feature description and introduction video.
To view the fully expanded CI/CD configuration as one combined file,
go to the pipeline editor’s »View merged YAML« tab. This tab displays an
expanded configuration where:
Configuration imported with include is copied into the view.
Jobs that use extends display with the extended configuration merged into the job.
YAML anchors are replaced with the linked configuration
Usage: Open project → Module »CI / CD« → Submodule »Editor« → Tab »View merged YAML«
GitLab 15.1 offers an altervative:
Link to included CI/CD configuration from the pipeline editor
A typical CI/CD configuration uses the include keyword to import configuration stored in other files or CI/CD templates. When editing or troubleshooting your configuration though, it can be difficult to understand how all the configuration works together because the included configuration is not visible in your .gitlab-ci-yml, you only see the include entry.
In this release, we added links to all included configuration files and templates to the pipeline editor.
Now you can easily access and view all the CI/CD configuration your pipeline uses, making it much easier to manage large and complex pipelines.
See Documentation and Issue.
I have many Gitlab project followed the same CI template. Whenever there is a small change in the CI script, I have to manually modify the CI script in each project. Is there a way you can store your CI script in a central location and have your project called that CI script with some environment variable substitution? For instance,
gitlab-ci.yml in each project
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL <link_to_the_central_location>.sh)"
gitlab-ci.yml in the central location
stages:
- build
- test
build-code-job:
stage: build
script:
- echo "Check the ruby version, then build some Ruby project files:"
- ruby -v
- rake
test-code-job1:
stage: test
script:
- echo "If the files are built successfully, test some files with one command:"
- rake test1
test-code-job2:
stage: test
script:
- echo "If the files are built successfully, test other files with a different command:"
- rake test2
You do not need curl, actually gitlab supports this via the include directive.
you need a repository, where you store your general yml files. (you can choose if it is a whole ci file, or just parts. For this example lets call this repository CI and assume your gitlab runs at example.com - so the project url would be example.com/ci. we create two files in there just to show the possibilities.
is a whole CI definition, ready to use - lets call the file ci.yml. This approach is not really flexible
stages:
- build
- test
build-code-job:
stage: build
script:
- echo "Check the ruby version, then build some Ruby project files:"
- ruby -v
- rake
test-code-job1:
stage: test
script:
- echo "If the files are built successfully, test some files with one command:"
- rake test1
test-code-job2:
stage: test
script:
- echo "If the files are built successfully, test other files with a different command:"
- rake test2
is a partly CI definition, which is more extendable. lets call the files includes.yml
.build:
stage: build
script:
- echo "Check the ruby version, then build some Ruby project files:"
- ruby -v
- rake
.test:
stage: test
script:
- echo "this script tag will be overwritten"
There is even the option to use template string from yaml. please reference the gitlab documentation but it is similar to 2.
we do have our project which wants to use such definitions. so either
For the whole CI file
include:
- project: 'ci'
ref: master # think about tagging if you need it
file: 'ci.yml'
as you can see now we are referencing one yml file, with all the cahnges.
with partial extends
include:
- project: 'ci'
ref: master # think about tagging if you need it
file: 'includes.yml'
stages:
- build
- test
build-code-job:
extends: .build
job1:
extends: .test
script:
- rake test1
job2:
extends: .test
script:
- rake test2
As you see, you can easily use the includes, to have a way more granular setup. Additionally you could define at job1 and job2 variables, eg for the test target, and move the script block into the includes.yml
Futhermore you can also use anchors for the script parts. Which looks like this
includes.yml
.build-scirpt: &build
- echo "Check the ruby version, then build some Ruby project files:"
- ruby -v
- rake
.build:
stage: build
script:
- *build
and you can use also the script anchor within your configuration
For a deeper explanation you can also take a look at https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/includes.html
I want to run Job only for merge_requests refs AND when changes for specified files, according to official doc i create this Job in .gitlab-ci.yml:
merge-request-test:
<<: *some_anchor
only:
refs:
- merge_requests
changes:
- "*.py"
- "**/*.py"
- postman/some-file.json
But this job starts even if i change any other file.
I understand that GitLab CI apply OR rule for refs and changes sections:
In the example below, the test job will not be created when any of the
following are true:
The pipeline runs for the master. There are changes to the README.md
file in the root directory of the repo.
test:
script: npm run test
except:
refs:
- master
changes:
- "README.md"
I want to start this Job only for MR and when changes specified files.
How i can achieve this behaviour?
If remove refs section, it works only when files changed, but official doc does not recommend do this, because i want to use it in pipelines:
If using only:changes with only allow merge requests to be merged if
the pipeline succeeds, undesired behavior could result if you do not
also use only:merge_requests.
For now i have this working solution:
merge-request-deploy:
<<: *deploy-app
rules:
- if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME =~ /^feature/ && $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "develop"'
changes:
- "*.py"
- "**/*.py"
- postman/some-file.json
when: always
if: '$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME =~ /^feature/ && $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "develop"' - gives me MR branc
changes - gives me changed files
Rule's sections works with AND rule.
Using gitlab ci, I have a repo where all my templates are created.
For example, I have a sonar scanner job template named .sonar-scanner.yml:
sonar-analysis:
stage: quality
image:
name: sonar-scanner-ci:latest
entrypoint: [""]
script:
- sonar-scanner
-D"sonar.projectKey=${SONAR_PROJECT_NAME}"
-D"sonar.login=${SONAR_LOGIN}"
-D"sonar.host.url=${SONAR_SERVER}"
-D"sonar.projectVersion=${CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA}"
-D"sonar.projectBaseDir=${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"
I have include this template as a project like this in main gitlab ci file:
include:
- project: 'organization/group/ci-template'
ref: master
file: '.sonar-scanner.yml'
So as you can understand I have a repo named ci-templates where all my templates are created. And in another repo, I extends using include these templates.
Finally, in a repo, when a new merge request is created, my job for sonar is running under another file in my project test/quality.yml:
sonar:
stage: quality
extends:
- sonar-analysis
allow_failure: true
only:
refs:
- merge_requests
All is working well except the substitution or the overriding of my env var. Indeed of my template. I have many sonar server or project names. I would like to know how to override these variables SONAR_SERVER and SONAR_PROJECT_NAME when I extend the job from a template.
In my main .gitlab-ci.yml file I have a variables section declaration, and when I override these variables in, it works.
But it's not really what I want. Using many stages and many micro service it is possible to reuse the same extending job in a different way. That I really want to do is to override these variables directly in the file test/quality.yml.
This, for example does not work:
sonar:
stage: quality
extends:
- sonar-analysis
variables:
SONAR_PROJECT_NAME: foo
SONAR_SERVER: bar
allow_failure: true
only:
refs:
- merge_requests
This not work too:
variables:
SONAR_PROJECT_NAME: foo
SONAR_SERVER: bar
sonar:
stage: quality
extends:
- sonar-analysis
allow_failure: true
only:
refs:
- merge_requests
What is the best way to make this work ?
Since this question was asked in Feburary 2020, a new MR Use non-predefined variables inside CI include blocks has been merged into Gitlab 14.2, which resolves the issue for the overridden job.
The project that does the include can redefine the variables when extending a job:
include:
- project: 'organization/group/ci-template'
ref: master
file: '.sonar-scanner.yml'
sonar:
stage: quality
extends:
- sonar-analysis
variables:
SONAR_PROJECT_NAME: foo
SONAR_SERVER: bar
allow_failure: true
But in this case you probably want the job in the template to start with a dot .sonar-analysis instead of sonar-analysis to not create a real sonar-analysis job in the template (see hidden jobs).
Or you can also directly set the variables values (to redefine them) of an existing job in the project that does the include:
include:
- project: 'organization/group/ci-template'
ref: master
file: '.sonar-scanner.yml'
sonar-analysis:
variables:
SONAR_PROJECT_NAME: foo
SONAR_SERVER: bar
I verified this with a test project, which includes a template from a peer test project, and when it runs, results in two jobs. This is the job output for the overriding job:
$ echo sonar.projectKey=${SONAR_PROJECT_NAME}
sonar.projectKey=foo
$ echo sonar.login=${SONAR_LOGIN}
sonar.login=bob
$ echo sonar.host.url=${SONAR_SERVER}
sonar.host.url=bar
I'm having a Gitlab CI/CD pipeline, and it works OK generally.
My problem is that my testing takes more than 10 minutes and it not stable (YET..) so occasionally randomly it fails on a minor test that I don't care for.
Generally, after retry, it works, but if I need an urgent deploy I need to wait another 10 minutes.
When we have an urgent bug, another 10 minutes is waaaay too much time, so I am looking for a way to force deploy even when the test failed.
I have the next pseudo ci yaml scenario that I'd failed to find a way to accomplish
stages:
- build
- test
- deploy
setup_and_build:
stage: build
script:
- build.sh
test_branch:
stage: test
script:
- test.sh
deploy:
stage: deploy
script:
- deploy.sh
only:
- master
I'm looking for a way to deploy manually if the test phase failed.
but if I add when: manual to the deploy, then deploy never happens automatically.
so a flag like when: auto_or_manual_on_previous_fail will be great.
currently, there is no such flag in Gitlab ci.
Do you have any idea for a workaround or a way to implement it?
Another approach would be to skip the test in case of an emergency release.
For that, follow "Skipping Tests in GitLab CI" from Andi Scharfstein, and:
add "skip test" in the commit message triggering that emergency release
check a variable on the test stage
That is:
.test-template: &test-template
stage: tests
except:
variables:
- $CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE =~ /\[skip[ _-]tests?\]/i
- $SKIP_TESTS
As you can see above, we also included the variable $SKIP_TESTS in the except block of the template.
This is helpful when triggering pipelines manually from GitLab’s web interface.
Here’s an example:
It's possible to control the job attribute of your deploy job by leveraging parent-child pipelines (gitlab 12.7 and above). This will let you decide if you want the job in the child pipeline to run as manual, or always
Essentially, you will need to have a .gitlab-ci.yml with:
stages:
- build
- test
- child-deploy
child-deploy stage will be used to run the child pipeline, in which the deploy job will run with the desired attribute.
Your test could generate as artifact the code for deploy section. For example, in the after_script section of your test, you can check the value of CI_JOB_STATUS builtin variable to decide if you want to write the child job to run as manual or always:
my_test:
stage: test
script:
- echo "testing, exit 0 on success, exit 1 on failure"
after_script:
- if [ "$CI_JOB_STATUS" == "success" ]; then WHEN=always; else WHEN=manual; fi
- |
cat << 'EOF' > deploy.yml
stages:
- deploy
my_deploy:
stage: deploy
rules:
- when: $WHEN
script:
- echo "deploying"
EOF
artifacts:
when: always
paths:
- deploy.yml
Note that variable expension is disabled in the heredoc section, by the use of single quoted 'EOF'. If you need variable expension, remember to escape the $ of $WHEN.
Finally, you can trigger the child pipeline with deploy.yml
gen_deploy:
stage: child-deploy
when: always
trigger:
include:
- artifact: deploy.yml
job: my_test
strategy: depend