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Romain Lespinasse
Romain Lespinasse

Posted on • Originally published at romainlespinasse.dev

Optimizing Shared GitLab Pipelines: Flexibility and Maintainability

#gitlab #cicd

The Challenge

A colleague seeks to modify the script section of a job in a shared GitLab pipeline, facing hardcoded configuration:

  # https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-shared-ci-templates/-/blob/main/pipeline-with-hardcoded-values.yml
  test-branch:
    stage: test
    before_script:
      - ls
    script: # it's for the example, the script can be more complex
      - ls ./wrong-folder
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This rigid setup causes pipeline failure in their project:

  # https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-project/-/blob/main/.gitlab-ci.yml
  include:
    - project: 'rlespinasse/foobar-shared-ci-templates'
      ref: HEAD
      file:
        - '/pipeline-with-hardcoded-values.yml'
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  $ ls ./wrong-folder
  ls: cannot access './wrong-folder': No such file or directory
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Ideal Solution

The optimal approach involves implementing variables as configuration points:

  # https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-shared-ci-templates/-/blob/main/pipeline-with-variables.yml
  variables:
    FOLDER_TO_TEST: wrong-folder

  test-branch:
    stage: test
    before_script:
      - ls
    script:
      - ls ./${FOLDER_TO_TEST}
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This method allows for easy customization:

  # https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-project/-/merge_requests/2
  include:
    - project: 'rlespinasse/foobar-shared-ci-templates'
      ref: HEAD
      file:
        - '/pipeline-with-variables.yml'

  variables:
    FOLDER_TO_TEST: folder
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  $ ls ./${FOLDER_TO_TEST}
  some-file
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Temporary Workaround

In the meantime, one can override only the script part:

  # https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-project/-/merge_requests/1
  include:
    - project: 'rlespinasse/foobar-shared-ci-templates'
      ref: HEAD
      file:
        - '/pipeline-with-hardcoded-values.yml'

  test-branch:
    stage: test
    script:
      - ls ./folder
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  $ ls ./folder
  some-file
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Conclusion

While functional, this temporary solution may lead to divergences and maintenance issues.

It's recommended to contribute to open source or innersource projects (especially during Hacktoberfest) by proposing the addition of variables.
This would allow users to adapt shared pipeline behaviors to their needs while preserving the original intent.

Explore the code

You can explore the code on those repositories:

💡 Note
This post was originally published on my personal blog.

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