CI/CD pipeline - get list of changed files

GitLab CI/CD
#1

Hi folks,

On my Gitlab CI/CD pipeline, is there a way I can get a list of the changed files?

Basically, I’ve got some linting set up - but the repository contains a number of separate files which don’t work together to form an application, they’re just individual files hosted in the same place.

I’d like to lint only files changed on commit/push. Is this possible?

Many thanks,
Duncan

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#2

I have the same question! From what I can tell (below), we’ll have to use the git command: git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r <commit hash> in our CI scripts to obtain the list of changed files, one per line, and then iterate over that list.

How to get a list of changed files in a commit (GitLab Forum)
How to list all the files in a commit? (Stack Overflow).

2 Likes
#3

Thanks for this @quilty. This worked nicely.

files=(git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r $CI_COMMIT_SHA)

Can then use a standard Bash for loop to iterate through the files.

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#4

If there are multiple commits in a merge request, how to get all changed files?

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#5 
git diff

Can work with 2 commits SHAs

Reference:

#6

In case the pipeline runs on merge requests, one option it is to compare it with the target branch.
git diff-tree --name-only --no-commit-id $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_SHA

#7

I am running the below command in my pipeline and it throws an error that
git command not found

command:
git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r

I am trying to capture list of changed files in my pipeline , if there is another way

#8

This command does not work for me.
I get the error fatal: ambiguous argument '{branch_name}': unknown revision or path not in the working tree., even though the merge request originates from this branch.

A quick
git branch -a
returns
* (HEAD detached at b487990)

Which explains why it does not work but I don’t understand why the head is detached in the first place.

#9

FInally found a solution starting from @mpp’s idea, and an answer in this thread:

  1. If this is a private repository, you will need to add a new ssh key in the CI.

  2. Fetch the branch you want to merge:
    git fetch origin $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME

  3. Compare the current commit with the branch you want to merge with:
    git diff --name-only $CI_COMMIT_SHA $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME

Voilà !

1 Like
#10

You saved my life!