Optimizing Shared GitLab Pipelines: Flexibility and Maintainability

Optimizing shared GitLab pipelines enhances flexibility and maintainability. Users can easily customize pipeline behavior by implementing variables as configuration points without compromising the original intent. While temporary workarounds exist, contributing to open-source projects to improve shared pipeline structures is highly recommended, especially during events like Hacktoberfest.

title: Optimizing Shared GitLab Pipelines: Flexibility and Maintainability published: true description: Optimizing shared GitLab pipelines enhances flexibility and maintainability. Users can easily customize pipeline behavior by implementing variables as configuration points without compromising the original intent. While temporary workarounds exist, contributing to open-source projects to improve shared pipeline structures is highly recommended, especially during events like Hacktoberfest. tags: gitlab, cicd canonical_url: https://www.romainlespinasse.dev/posts/optimizing-shared-gitlab-pipelines/

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

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'

$ ls ./wrong-folder
ls: cannot access './wrong-folder': No such file or directory

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}

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

$ ls ./${FOLDER_TO_TEST}
some-file

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

$ ls ./folder
some-file

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:

• https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-shared-ci-templates
• https://gitlab.com/rlespinasse/foobar-project

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