Pipelines for the GitLab project
Pipelines for gitlab-org/gitlab
(as well as the dev
instance's) is configured in the usual
.gitlab-ci.yml
which itself includes files under
.gitlab/ci/
for easier maintenance.
We're striving to dogfood GitLab CI/CD features and best-practices as much as possible.
Minimal test jobs before a merge request is approved
To reduce the pipeline cost and shorten the job duration, before a merge request is approved, the pipeline will run a minimal set of RSpec & Jest tests that are related to the merge request changes.
After a merge request has been approved, the pipeline would contain the full RSpec & Jest tests. This will ensure that all tests have been run before a merge request is merged.
Overview of the GitLab project test dependency
To understand how the minimal test jobs are executed, we need to understand the dependency between GitLab code (frontend and backend) and the respective tests (Jest and RSpec). This dependency can be visualized in the following diagram:
flowchart LR
subgraph frontend
fe["Frontend code"]--tested with-->jest
end
subgraph backend
be["Backend code"]--tested with-->rspec
end
be--generates-->fixtures["frontend fixtures"]
fixtures--used in-->jest
In summary:
- RSpec tests are dependent on the backend code.
- Jest tests are dependent on both frontend and backend code, the latter through the frontend fixtures.
RSpec minimal jobs
Determining related RSpec test files in a merge request
To identify the minimal set of tests needed, we use the test_file_finder
gem, with two strategies:
- dynamic mapping from test coverage tracing (generated via the
Crystalball
gem) (see where it's used) - static mapping maintained in the
tests.yml
file for special cases that cannot be mapped via coverage tracing (see where it's used)
The test mappings contain a map of each source files to a list of test files which is dependent of the source file.
In the detect-tests
job, we use this mapping to identify the minimal tests needed for the current merge request.
Exceptional cases
In addition, there are a few circumstances where we would always run the full RSpec tests:
- when the
pipeline:run-all-rspec
label is set on the merge request - when the merge request is created by an automation (for example, Gitaly update or MR targeting a stable branch)
- when the merge request is created in a security mirror
- when any CI configuration file is changed (for example,
.gitlab-ci.yml
or.gitlab/ci/**/*
)
Jest minimal jobs
Determining related Jest test files in a merge request
To identify the minimal set of tests needed, we pass a list of all the changed files into jest
using the --findRelatedTests
option.
In this mode, jest
would resolve all the dependencies of related to the changed files, which include test files that have these files in the dependency chain.
Exceptional cases
In addition, there are a few circumstances where we would always run the full Jest tests:
- when the
pipeline:run-all-jest
label is set on the merge request - when the merge request is created by an automation (for example, Gitaly update or MR targeting a stable branch)
- when the merge request is created in a security mirror
- when any CI configuration file is changed (for example,
.gitlab-ci.yml
or.gitlab/ci/**/*
) - when any frontend "core" file is changed (for example,
package.json
,yarn.lock
,babel.config.js
,jest.config.*.js
,config/helpers/**/*.js
) - when any vendored JavaScript file is changed (for example,
vendor/assets/javascripts/**/*
) - when any backend file is changed (see the patterns list for details)
Fork pipelines
We only run the minimal RSpec & Jest jobs for fork pipelines unless the pipeline:run-all-rspec
label is set on the MR. The goal is to reduce the CI/CD minutes consumed by fork pipelines.
See the experiment issue.
Faster feedback when reverting merge requests
When you need to revert a merge request, to get accelerated feedback, you can add the ~pipeline:revert
label to your merge request.
When this label is assigned, the following steps of the CI/CD pipeline are skipped:
- The
package-and-qa
job. - The
rspec:undercoverage
job. - The entire Review Apps process.
Apply the label to the merge request, and run a new pipeline for the MR.
Fail-fast job in merge request pipelines
To provide faster feedback when a merge request breaks existing tests, we are experimenting with a fail-fast mechanism.
An rspec fail-fast
job is added in parallel to all other rspec
jobs in a merge
request pipeline. This job runs the tests that are directly related to the changes
in the merge request.
If any of these tests fail, the rspec fail-fast
job fails, triggering a
fail-pipeline-early
job to run. The fail-pipeline-early
job:
- Cancels the currently running pipeline and all in-progress jobs.
- Sets pipeline to have status
failed
.
For example:
graph LR
subgraph "prepare stage";
A["detect-tests"]
end
subgraph "test stage";
B["jest"];
C["rspec migration"];
D["rspec unit"];
E["rspec integration"];
F["rspec system"];
G["rspec fail-fast"];
end
subgraph "post-test stage";
Z["fail-pipeline-early"];
end
A --"artifact: list of test files"--> G
G --"on failure"--> Z
The rspec fail-fast
is a no-op if there are more than 10 test files related to the
merge request. This prevents rspec fail-fast
duration from exceeding the average
rspec
job duration and defeating its purpose.
This number can be overridden by setting a CI/CD variable named RSPEC_FAIL_FAST_TEST_FILE_COUNT_THRESHOLD
.
Test jobs
We have dedicated jobs for each testing level and each job runs depending on the
changes made in your merge request.
If you want to force all the RSpec jobs to run regardless of your changes, you can add the pipeline:run-all-rspec
label to the merge request.
WARNING: Forcing all jobs on docs only related MRs would not have the prerequisite jobs and would lead to errors
Test suite parallelization
Our current RSpec tests parallelization setup is as follows:
- The
retrieve-tests-metadata
job in theprepare
stage ensures we have aknapsack/report-master.json
file:- The
knapsack/report-master.json
file is fetched from the latestmain
pipeline which runsupdate-tests-metadata
(for now it's the 2-hourlymaintenance
scheduled master pipeline), if it's not here we initialize the file with{}
.
- The
- Each
[rspec|rspec-ee] [migration|unit|integration|system|geo] n m
job are run withknapsack rspec
and should have an evenly distributed share of tests:- It works because the jobs have access to the
knapsack/report-master.json
since the "artifacts from all previous stages are passed by default". - the jobs set their own report path to
"knapsack/${TEST_TOOL}_${TEST_LEVEL}_${DATABASE}_${CI_NODE_INDEX}_${CI_NODE_TOTAL}_report.json"
. - if knapsack is doing its job, test files that are run should be listed under
Report specs
, not underLeftover specs
.
- It works because the jobs have access to the
- The
update-tests-metadata
job (which only runs on scheduled pipelines for the canonical project takes all theknapsack/rspec*.json
files and merge them all together into a singleknapsack/report-master.json
file that is saved as artifact.
After that, the next pipeline uses the up-to-date knapsack/report-master.json
file.
Flaky tests
Automatic skipping of flaky tests
Tests that are known to be flaky are
skipped unless the $SKIP_FLAKY_TESTS_AUTOMATICALLY
variable is set to false
or if the ~"pipeline:run-flaky-tests"
label is set on the MR.
See the experiment issue.
Automatic retry of failing tests in a separate process
Unless $RETRY_FAILED_TESTS_IN_NEW_PROCESS
variable is set to false
(true
by default), RSpec tests that failed are automatically retried once in a separate
RSpec process. The goal is to get rid of most side-effects from previous tests that may lead to a subsequent test failure.
We keep track of retried tests in the $RETRIED_TESTS_REPORT_FILE
file saved as artifact by the rspec:flaky-tests-report
job.
See the experiment issue.
Single database testing
By default, all tests run with multiple databases.
We also run tests with a single database in nightly scheduled pipelines, and in merge requests that touch database-related files.
If you want to force tests to run with a single database, you can add the pipeline:run-single-db
label to the merge request.
Monitoring
The GitLab test suite is monitored for the main
branch, and any branch
that includes rspec-profile
in their name.
Logging
- Rails logging to
log/test.log
is disabled by default in CI for performance reasons. To override this setting, provide theRAILS_ENABLE_TEST_LOG
environment variable.
Review app jobs
Consult the Review Apps dedicated page for more information.
If you want to force a Review App to be deployed regardless of your changes, you can add the pipeline:run-review-app
label to the merge request.
As-if-FOSS jobs
The * as-if-foss
jobs run the GitLab test suite "as if FOSS", meaning as if the jobs would run in the context
of gitlab-org/gitlab-foss
. These jobs are only created in the following cases:
- when the
pipeline:run-as-if-foss
label is set on the merge request - when the merge request is created in the
gitlab-org/security/gitlab
project - when any CI configuration file is changed (for example,
.gitlab-ci.yml
or.gitlab/ci/**/*
)
The * as-if-foss
jobs are run in addition to the regular EE-context jobs. They have the FOSS_ONLY='1'
variable
set and get the ee/
folder removed before the tests start running.
The intent is to ensure that a change doesn't introduce a failure after gitlab-org/gitlab
is synced to gitlab-org/gitlab-foss
.
As-if-JH jobs
The * as-if-jh
jobs run the GitLab test suite "as if JiHu", meaning as if the jobs would run in the context
of GitLab JH. These jobs are only created in the following cases:
- when the
pipeline:run-as-if-jh
label is set on the merge request - when the
pipeline:run-all-rspec
label is set on the merge request - when any code or backstage file is changed
- when any startup CSS file is changed
The * as-if-jh
jobs are run in addition to the regular EE-context jobs. The jh/
folder is added before the tests start running.
The intent is to ensure that a change doesn't introduce a failure after gitlab-org/gitlab
is synced to GitLab JH.
pipeline:run-as-if-jh
label
When to consider applying If a Ruby file is renamed and there's a corresponding prepend_mod
line,
it's likely that GitLab JH is relying on it and requires a corresponding
change to rename the module or class it's prepending.
Corresponding JH branch
You can create a corresponding JH branch on GitLab JH by
appending -jh
to the branch name. If a corresponding JH branch is found,
* as-if-jh
jobs grab the jh
folder from the respective branch,
rather than from the default branch main-jh
.
NOTE: For now, CI will try to fetch the branch on the GitLab JH mirror, so it might take some time for the new JH branch to propagate to the mirror.
Ruby 3.0 jobs
You can add the pipeline:run-in-ruby3
label to the merge request to switch
the Ruby version used for running the whole test suite to 3.0. When you do
this, the test suite will no longer run in Ruby 2.7 (default), and an
additional job verify-ruby-2.7
will also run and always fail to remind us to
remove the label and run in Ruby 2.7 before merging the merge request.
This should let us:
- Test changes for Ruby 3.0
- Make sure it will not break anything when it's merged into the default branch
undercover
RSpec test
Introduced in GitLab 14.6.
The rspec:undercoverage
job runs undercover
to detect, and fail if any changes introduced in the merge request has zero coverage.
The rspec:undercoverage
job obtains coverage data from the rspec:coverage
job.
In the event of an emergency, or false positive from this job, add the
pipeline:skip-undercoverage
label to the merge request to allow this job to
fail.
rspec:undercoverage
failures
Troubleshooting The rspec:undercoverage
job has known bugs
that can cause false positive failures. You can test coverage locally to determine if it's
safe to apply ~"pipeline:skip-undercoverage"
. For example, using <spec>
as the name of the
test causing the failure:
- Run
SIMPLECOV=1 bundle exec rspec <spec>
. - Run
scripts/undercoverage
.
If these commands return undercover: ✅ No coverage is missing in latest changes
then you can apply ~"pipeline:skip-undercoverage"
to bypass pipeline failures.
Ruby versions testing
Our test suite runs against Ruby 2 in merge requests and default branch pipelines.
We also run our test suite against Ruby 3 on another 2-hourly scheduled pipelines, as GitLab.com will soon run on Ruby 3.
PostgreSQL versions testing
Our test suite runs against PG12 as GitLab.com runs on PG12 and Omnibus defaults to PG12 for new installs and upgrades.
We do run our test suite against PG11 and PG13 on nightly scheduled pipelines.
We also run our test suite against PG11 upon specific database library changes in MRs and main
pipelines (with the rspec db-library-code pg11
job).
Current versions testing
Where? | PostgreSQL version | Ruby version |
---|---|---|
Merge requests | 12 (default version), 11 for DB library changes | 2.7 (default version) |
master branch commits |
12 (default version), 11 for DB library changes | 2.7 (default version) |
maintenance scheduled pipelines (every 2 hours at even hour) |
12 (default version), 11 for DB library changes | 2.7 (default version) |
maintenance scheduled pipelines (every 2 hours at odd hour) |
12 (default version), 11 for DB library changes | 3.0 (set in the schedule variables) |
nightly scheduled pipelines |
12 (default version), 11, 13 | 2.7 (default version) |
Long-term plan
We follow the PostgreSQL versions shipped with Omnibus GitLab:
PostgreSQL version | 14.1 (July 2021) | 14.2 (August 2021) | 14.3 (September 2021) | 14.4 (October 2021) | 14.5 (November 2021) | 14.6 (December 2021) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PG12 | MRs/2-hour /nightly
|
MRs/2-hour /nightly
|
MRs/2-hour /nightly
|
MRs/2-hour /nightly
|
MRs/2-hour /nightly
|
MRs/2-hour /nightly
|
PG11 | nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
PG13 | nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
nightly |
Redis versions testing
Our test suite runs against Redis 6 as GitLab.com runs on Redis 6 and Omnibus defaults to Redis 6 for new installs and upgrades.
We do run our test suite against Redis 5 on nightly
scheduled pipelines, specifically when running backward-compatible and forward-compatible PostgreSQL jobs.
Current versions testing
Where? | Redis version |
---|---|
MRs | 6 |
default branch (non-scheduled pipelines) |
6 |
nightly scheduled pipelines |
5 |
Pipelines types for merge requests
In general, pipelines for an MR fall into one of the following types (from shorter to longer), depending on the changes made in the MR:
- Documentation pipeline: For MRs that touch documentation.
- Backend pipeline: For MRs that touch backend code.
- Frontend pipeline: For MRs that touch frontend code.
-
End-to-end pipeline: For MRs that touch code in the
qa/
folder.
A "pipeline type" is an abstract term that mostly describes the "critical path" (for example, the chain of jobs for which the sum of individual duration equals the pipeline's duration). We use these "pipeline types" in metrics dashboards in order to detect what types and jobs need to be optimized first.
An MR that touches multiple areas would be associated with the longest type applicable. For instance, an MR that touches backend and frontend would fall into the "Frontend" pipeline type since this type takes longer to finish than the "Backend" pipeline type.
We use the rules:
and needs:
keywords extensively
to determine the jobs that need to be run in a pipeline. Note that an MR that includes multiple types of changes would
have a pipelines that include jobs from multiple types (for example, a combination of docs-only and code-only pipelines).
Following are graphs of the critical paths for each pipeline type. Jobs that aren't part of the critical path are omitted.
Documentation pipeline
graph LR
classDef criticalPath fill:#f66;
1-3["docs-lint links (5 minutes)"];
class 1-3 criticalPath;
click 1-3 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=8356757&udv=0"
Backend pipeline
graph RL;
classDef criticalPath fill:#f66;
1-3["compile-test-assets (6 minutes)"];
class 1-3 criticalPath;
click 1-3 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914317&udv=0"
1-6["setup-test-env (4 minutes)"];
click 1-6 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914315&udv=0"
1-14["retrieve-tests-metadata"];
click 1-14 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=8356697&udv=0"
1-15["detect-tests"];
click 1-15 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/EP---Jobs-Durations?widget=10113603&udv=1005715"
2_5-1["rspec & db jobs (24 minutes)"];
class 2_5-1 criticalPath;
click 2_5-1 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations"
2_5-1 --> 1-3 & 1-6 & 1-14 & 1-15;
3_2-1["rspec:coverage (5.35 minutes)"];
class 3_2-1 criticalPath;
click 3_2-1 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=7248745&udv=0"
3_2-1 -.->|"(don't use needs<br/>because of limitations)"| 2_5-1;
4_3-1["rspec:undercoverage (3.5 minutes)"];
class 4_3-1 criticalPath;
click 4_3-1 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/EP---Jobs-Durations?widget=13446492&udv=1005715"
4_3-1 --> 3_2-1;
Frontend pipeline
graph RL;
classDef criticalPath fill:#f66;
1-2["build-qa-image (2 minutes)"];
click 1-2 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914325&udv=0"
1-5["compile-production-assets (16 minutes)"];
class 1-5 criticalPath;
click 1-5 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914312&udv=0"
2_3-1["build-assets-image (1.3 minutes)"];
class 2_3-1 criticalPath;
2_3-1 --> 1-5
2_6-1["start-review-app-pipeline (49 minutes)"];
class 2_6-1 criticalPath;
click 2_6-1 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations"
2_6-1 --> 2_3-1 & 1-2;
End-to-end pipeline
graph RL;
classDef criticalPath fill:#f66;
1-2["build-qa-image (2 minutes)"];
click 1-2 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914325&udv=0"
1-5["compile-production-assets (16 minutes)"];
class 1-5 criticalPath;
click 1-5 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914312&udv=0"
1-15["detect-tests"];
click 1-15 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/EP---Jobs-Durations?widget=10113603&udv=1005715"
2_3-1["build-assets-image (1.3 minutes)"];
class 2_3-1 criticalPath;
2_3-1 --> 1-5
2_4-1["package-and-qa (102 minutes)"];
class 2_4-1 criticalPath;
click 2_4-1 "https://app.periscopedata.com/app/gitlab/652085/Engineering-Productivity---Pipeline-Build-Durations?widget=6914305&udv=0"
2_4-1 --> 1-2 & 2_3-1 & 1-15;
CI configuration internals
Workflow rules
Pipelines for the GitLab project are created using the workflow:rules
keyword
feature of the GitLab CI/CD.
Pipelines are always created for the following scenarios:
-
main
branch, including on schedules, pushes, merges, and so on. - Merge requests.
- Tags.
- Stable,
auto-deploy
, and security branches.
Pipeline creation is also affected by the following CI/CD variables:
- If
$FORCE_GITLAB_CI
is set, pipelines are created. - If
$GITLAB_INTERNAL
is not set, pipelines are not created.
No pipeline is created in any other cases (for example, when pushing a branch with no MR for it).
The source of truth for these workflow rules is defined in .gitlab-ci.yml
.
Default image
The default image is defined in .gitlab-ci.yml
.
It includes Ruby, Go, Git, Git LFS, Chrome, Node, Yarn, PostgreSQL, and Graphics Magick.
The images used in our pipelines are configured in the
gitlab-org/gitlab-build-images
project, which is push-mirrored to gitlab/gitlab-build-images
for redundancy.
The current version of the build images can be found in the "Used by GitLab section".
Default variables
In addition to the predefined CI/CD variables,
each pipeline includes default variables defined in
.gitlab-ci.yml
.
Stages
The current stages are:
-
sync
: This stage is used to synchronize changes fromgitlab-org/gitlab
togitlab-org/gitlab-foss
. -
prepare
: This stage includes jobs that prepare artifacts that are needed by jobs in subsequent stages. -
build-images
: This stage includes jobs that prepare Docker images that are needed by jobs in subsequent stages or downstream pipelines. -
fixtures
: This stage includes jobs that prepare fixtures needed by frontend tests. -
lint
: This stage includes linting and static analysis jobs. -
test
: This stage includes most of the tests, and DB/migration jobs. -
post-test
: This stage includes jobs that build reports or gather data from thetest
stage's jobs (for example, coverage, Knapsack metadata, and so on). -
review
: This stage includes jobs that build the CNG images, deploy them, and run end-to-end tests against Review Apps (see Review Apps for details). It also includes Docs Review App jobs. -
qa
: This stage includes jobs that perform QA tasks against the Review App that is deployed in stagereview
. -
post-qa
: This stage includes jobs that build reports or gather data from theqa
stage's jobs (for example, Review App performance report). -
pages
: This stage includes a job that deploys the various reports as GitLab Pages (for example,coverage-ruby
, andwebpack-report
(found athttps://gitlab-org.gitlab.io/gitlab/webpack-report/
, but there is an issue with the deployment). -
notify
: This stage includes jobs that notify various failures to Slack.
Dependency Proxy
Some of the jobs are using images from Docker Hub, where we also use
${GITLAB_DEPENDENCY_PROXY}
as a prefix to the image path, so that we pull
images from our Dependency Proxy.
${GITLAB_DEPENDENCY_PROXY}
is a group CI/CD variable defined in
gitlab-org
as
${CI_DEPENDENCY_PROXY_GROUP_IMAGE_PREFIX}/
. This means when we use an image
defined as:
image: ${GITLAB_DEPENDENCY_PROXY}alpine:edge
Projects in the gitlab-org
group pull from the Dependency Proxy, while
forks that reside on any other personal namespaces or groups fall back to
Docker Hub unless ${GITLAB_DEPENDENCY_PROXY}
is also defined there.
Common job definitions
Most of the jobs extend from a few CI definitions
defined in .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml
that are scoped to a single configuration keyword.
Job definitions | Description |
---|---|
.default-retry |
Allows a job to retry upon unknown_failure , api_failure , runner_system_failure , job_execution_timeout , or stuck_or_timeout_failure . |
.default-before_script |
Allows a job to use a default before_script definition suitable for Ruby/Rails tasks that may need a database running (for example, tests). |
.setup-test-env-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for setting up test environment for subsequent Ruby/Rails tasks. |
.rails-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for Ruby/Rails tasks. |
.static-analysis-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for static analysis tasks. |
.coverage-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for coverage tasks. |
.qa-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for QA tasks. |
.yarn-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for frontend jobs that do a yarn install . |
.assets-compile-cache |
Allows a job to use a default cache definition suitable for frontend jobs that compile assets. |
.use-pg11 |
Allows a job to run the postgres 11 and redis services (see .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml for the specific versions of the services). |
.use-pg11-ee |
Same as .use-pg11 but also use an elasticsearch service (see .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml for the specific version of the service). |
.use-pg12 |
Allows a job to use the postgres 12 and redis services (see .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml for the specific versions of the services). |
.use-pg12-ee |
Same as .use-pg12 but also use an elasticsearch service (see .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml for the specific version of the service). |
.use-pg13 |
Allows a job to use the postgres 13 and redis services (see .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml for the specific versions of the services). |
.use-pg13-ee |
Same as .use-pg13 but also use an elasticsearch service (see .gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml for the specific version of the service). |
.use-kaniko |
Allows a job to use the kaniko tool to build Docker images. |
.as-if-foss |
Simulate the FOSS project by setting the FOSS_ONLY='1' CI/CD variable. |
.use-docker-in-docker |
Allows a job to use Docker in Docker. |
rules
, if:
conditions and changes:
patterns
We're using the rules
keyword extensively.
All rules
definitions are defined in
rules.gitlab-ci.yml
,
then included in individual jobs via extends
.
The rules
definitions are composed of if:
conditions and changes:
patterns,
which are also defined in
rules.gitlab-ci.yml
and included in rules
definitions via YAML anchors
if:
conditions
if: conditions |
Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
if-not-canonical-namespace |
Matches if the project isn't in the canonical (gitlab-org/ ) or security (gitlab-org/security ) namespace. |
Use to create a job for forks (by using `when: on_success |
if-not-ee |
Matches if the project isn't EE (that is, project name isn't gitlab or gitlab-ee ). |
Use to create a job only in the FOSS project (by using `when: on_success |
if-not-foss |
Matches if the project isn't FOSS (that is, project name isn't gitlab-foss , gitlab-ce , or gitlabhq ). |
Use to create a job only in the EE project (by using `when: on_success |
if-default-refs |
Matches if the pipeline is for master , main , /^[\d-]+-stable(-ee)?$/ (stable branches), /^\d+-\d+-auto-deploy-\d+$/ (auto-deploy branches), /^security\// (security branches), merge requests, and tags. |
Note that jobs aren't created for branches with this default configuration. |
if-master-refs |
Matches if the current branch is master or main . |
|
if-master-push |
Matches if the current branch is master or main and pipeline source is push . |
|
if-master-schedule-maintenance |
Matches if the current branch is master or main and pipeline runs on a 2-hourly schedule. |
|
if-master-schedule-nightly |
Matches if the current branch is master or main and pipeline runs on a nightly schedule. |
|
if-auto-deploy-branches |
Matches if the current branch is an auto-deploy one. | |
if-master-or-tag |
Matches if the pipeline is for the master or main branch or for a tag. |
|
if-merge-request |
Matches if the pipeline is for a merge request. | |
if-merge-request-title-as-if-foss |
Matches if the pipeline is for a merge request and the MR has label ~"pipeline:run-as-if-foss" | |
if-merge-request-title-update-caches |
Matches if the pipeline is for a merge request and the MR has label ~"pipeline:update-cache". | |
if-merge-request-title-run-all-rspec |
Matches if the pipeline is for a merge request and the MR has label ~"pipeline:run-all-rspec". | |
if-security-merge-request |
Matches if the pipeline is for a security merge request. | |
if-security-schedule |
Matches if the pipeline is for a security scheduled pipeline. | |
if-nightly-master-schedule |
Matches if the pipeline is for a master scheduled pipeline with $NIGHTLY set. |
|
if-dot-com-gitlab-org-schedule |
Limits jobs creation to scheduled pipelines for the gitlab-org group on GitLab.com. |
|
if-dot-com-gitlab-org-master |
Limits jobs creation to the master or main branch for the gitlab-org group on GitLab.com. |
|
if-dot-com-gitlab-org-merge-request |
Limits jobs creation to merge requests for the gitlab-org group on GitLab.com. |
|
if-dot-com-gitlab-org-and-security-tag |
Limits job creation to tags for the gitlab-org and gitlab-org/security groups on GitLab.com. |
|
if-dot-com-gitlab-org-and-security-merge-request |
Limit jobs creation to merge requests for the gitlab-org and gitlab-org/security groups on GitLab.com. |
|
if-dot-com-gitlab-org-and-security-tag |
Limit jobs creation to tags for the gitlab-org and gitlab-org/security groups on GitLab.com. |
|
if-dot-com-ee-schedule |
Limits jobs to scheduled pipelines for the gitlab-org/gitlab project on GitLab.com. |
|
if-security-pipeline-merge-result |
Matches if the pipeline is for a security merge request triggered by @gitlab-release-tools-bot . |
changes:
patterns
changes: patterns |
Description |
---|---|
ci-patterns |
Only create job for CI configuration-related changes. |
ci-build-images-patterns |
Only create job for CI configuration-related changes related to the build-images stage. |
ci-review-patterns |
Only create job for CI configuration-related changes related to the review stage. |
ci-qa-patterns |
Only create job for CI configuration-related changes related to the qa stage. |
yaml-lint-patterns |
Only create job for YAML-related changes. |
docs-patterns |
Only create job for docs-related changes. |
frontend-dependency-patterns |
Only create job when frontend dependencies are updated (that is, package.json , and yarn.lock ). changes. |
frontend-patterns |
Only create job for frontend-related changes. |
backend-patterns |
Only create job for backend-related changes. |
db-patterns |
Only create job for DB-related changes. |
backstage-patterns |
Only create job for backstage-related changes (that is, Danger, fixtures, RuboCop, specs). |
code-patterns |
Only create job for code-related changes. |
qa-patterns |
Only create job for QA-related changes. |
code-backstage-patterns |
Combination of code-patterns and backstage-patterns . |
code-qa-patterns |
Combination of code-patterns and qa-patterns . |
code-backstage-qa-patterns |
Combination of code-patterns , backstage-patterns , and qa-patterns . |
static-analysis-patterns |
Only create jobs for Static Analytics configuration-related changes. |
Performance
Interruptible pipelines
By default, all jobs are interruptible, except the
dont-interrupt-me
job which runs automatically on main
, and is manual
otherwise.
If you want a running pipeline to finish even if you push new commits to a merge
request, be sure to start the dont-interrupt-me
job before pushing.
Git fetch caching
Because GitLab.com uses the pack-objects cache, concurrent Git fetches of the same pipeline ref are deduplicated on the Gitaly server (always) and served from cache (when available).
This works well for the following reasons:
- The pack-objects cache is enabled on all Gitaly servers on GitLab.com.
- The CI/CD Git strategy setting for
gitlab-org/gitlab
is Git clone, causing all jobs to fetch the same data, which maximizes the cache hit ratio. - We use shallow clone to avoid downloading the full Git history for every job.
Caching strategy
- All jobs must only pull caches by default.
- All jobs must be able to pass with an empty cache. In other words, caches are only there to speed up jobs.
- We currently have several different cache definitions defined in
.gitlab/ci/global.gitlab-ci.yml
, with fixed keys:.setup-test-env-cache
.ruby-cache
.rails-cache
.static-analysis-cache
.rubocop-cache
.coverage-cache
.danger-review-cache
.qa-cache
.yarn-cache
-
.assets-compile-cache
(the key includes${NODE_ENV}
so it's actually two different caches).
- These cache definitions are composed of multiple atomic caches.
- Only the following jobs, running in 2-hourly
maintenance
scheduled pipelines, are pushing (that is, updating) to the caches:-
update-setup-test-env-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/rails.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-gitaly-binaries-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/rails.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-rubocop-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/rails.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-qa-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/qa.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-assets-compile-production-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/frontend.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-assets-compile-test-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/frontend.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-yarn-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/frontend.gitlab-ci.yml
. -
update-storybook-yarn-cache
, defined in.gitlab/ci/frontend.gitlab-ci.yml
.
-
- These jobs can also be forced to run in merge requests with the
pipeline:update-cache
label (this can be useful to warm the caches in a MR that updates the cache keys).
Artifacts strategy
We limit the artifacts that are saved and retrieved by jobs to the minimum in order to reduce the upload/download time and costs, as well as the artifacts storage.
Components caching
Some external components (currently only GitLab Workhorse) of GitLab need to be built from source as a preliminary step for running tests.
In this MR, we introduced a new build-components
job that:
- runs automatically for all GitLab.com
gitlab-org/gitlab
scheduled pipelines - runs automatically for any
master
commit that touches theworkhorse/
folder - is manual for GitLab.com's
gitlab-org
's MRs
This job tries to download a generic package that contains GitLab Workhorse binaries needed in the GitLab test suite (under tmp/tests/gitlab-workhorse
).
- If the package URL returns a 404:
- It runs
scripts/setup-test-env
, so that the GitLab Workhorse binaries are built. - It then creates an archive which contains the binaries and upload it as a generic package.
- It runs
- Otherwise, if the package already exists, it exit the job successfully.
We also changed the setup-test-env
job to:
- First download the GitLab Workhorse generic package build and uploaded by
build-components
. - If the package is retrieved successfully, its content is placed in the right folder (for example,
tmp/tests/gitlab-workhorse
), preventing the building of the binaries whenscripts/setup-test-env
is run later on. - If the package URL returns a 404, the behavior doesn't change compared to the current one: the GitLab Workhorse binaries are built as part of
scripts/setup-test-env
.
NOTE:
The version of the package is the workhorse tree SHA (for example, git rev-parse HEAD:workhorse
).
Pre-clone step
NOTE:
We no longer use this optimization for gitlab-org/gitlab
because the pack-objects cache
allows Gitaly to serve the full CI/CD fetch traffic now. See Git fetch caching.
The pre-clone step works by using the CI_PRE_CLONE_SCRIPT
variable
defined by GitLab.com shared runners.