CI with multiple job, \ new line does not work

D3vil0per · August 23, 2025, 12:43pm

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Problem to solve

I created a gitlab-ci.yml file with this content:

stages:
  - build-iso

# --- Reusable bits (anchors) ---
.default_vars: &default_vars
  RELEASEVER: "42"
  ISO_BASENAME: "athenaos-live"

.common_before: &common_before
  - dnf install -y lorax pykickstart git anaconda sshpass rsync gh
  - git config --global user.email "littleowl@athenaos.org"
  - git config --global user.name "Little Owl"
  - git remote set-url origin "https://gitlab-ci-token:${CI_PUSH_TOKEN}@gitlab.com/${CI_PROJECT_PATH}.git"

# ---------- x86_64 ----------
build-iso:x86_64:
  stage: build-iso
  image: fedora:latest           # pulls x86_64 on an x86_64 runner
  #tags:
  #  - x86_64                     # <-- your x86_64 runner tag
  when: manual                   # keep manual like your original
  variables:
    <<: *default_vars
    ARCH: "x86_64"
    OUTDIR: "results/${ARCH}"
    ISO_NAME: "${ISO_BASENAME}-${ARCH}.iso"
  before_script: *common_before
  script:
    - mkdir -p "${OUTDIR}"
    - livemedia-creator --make-iso --ks athena-iso.ks --no-virt \
        --iso-only --iso-name "${ISO_NAME}" --resultdir "${OUTDIR}" \
        --releasever "${RELEASEVER}"
    - sha256sum "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" | tee "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256"
    - sshpass -p "${MIRROR_SECRET}" rsync -avzzlr --delete \
        -e "ssh -p 1027 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null" \
        "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256" \
        "${MIRROR_USER}@hub.athenaos.org:/srv/mirrors/athena-images/rolling/"
    - gh release upload "v23.11" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" --repo Athena-OS/athena --clobber
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - "${OUTDIR}/"

# ---------- aarch64 ----------
build-iso:aarch64:
  stage: build-iso
  image: fedora:latest           # pulls aarch64 on an ARM64 runner
  tags:
    - saas-linux-small-arm64                      # <-- your ARM64 runner tag
  when: manual
  variables:
    <<: *default_vars
    ARCH: "aarch64"
    OUTDIR: "results/${ARCH}"
    ISO_NAME: "${ISO_BASENAME}-${ARCH}.iso"
  before_script: *common_before
  script:
    - mkdir -p "${OUTDIR}"
    - livemedia-creator --make-iso --ks athena-iso.ks --no-virt \
        --iso-only --iso-name "${ISO_NAME}" --resultdir "${OUTDIR}" \
        --releasever "${RELEASEVER}"
    - sha256sum "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" | tee "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256"
    - sshpass -p "${MIRROR_SECRET}" rsync -avzzlr --delete \
        -e "ssh -p 1027 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null" \
        "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256" \
        "${MIRROR_USER}@hub.athenaos.org:/srv/mirrors/athena-images/rolling/"
    - gh release upload "v23.11" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" --repo Athena-OS/athena --clobber
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - "${OUTDIR}/"

When I run the jobs, they file due to:

$ livemedia-creator --make-iso --ks athena-iso.ks --no-virt \ --iso-only --iso-name "${ISO_NAME}" --resultdir "${OUTDIR}" \ --releasever "${RELEASEVER}"
usage: livemedia-creator [-h] (--make-iso | --make-disk | --make-fsimage |
                         --make-appliance | --make-ami | --make-tar |
                         --make-tar-disk | --make-pxe-live |
                         --make-ostree-live | --make-oci | --make-vagrant)
                         [--iso ISO] [--iso-only] [--iso-name ISO_NAME]
                         [--ks KS] [--image-only] [--no-virt] [--proxy PROXY]
                         [--anaconda-arg ANACONDA_ARGS]
                         [--armplatform ARMPLATFORM] [--location LOCATION]
                         [--logfile LOGFILE]
                         [--lorax-templates LORAX_TEMPLATES] [--tmp TMP]
                         [--resultdir RESULT_DIR] [--macboot] [--nomacboot]
                         [--extra-boot-args EXTRA_BOOT_ARGS] [-r RELEASE]
                         [-t VARIANT] [-b URL] [--isfinal]
                         [--disk-image DISK_IMAGE] [--keep-image]
                         [--fs-image FS_IMAGE] [--image-name IMAGE_NAME]
                         [--tar-disk-name TAR_DISK_NAME] [--fs-label FS_LABEL]
                         [--image-size-align IMAGE_SIZE_ALIGN]
                         [--image-type IMAGE_TYPE] [--qemu-arg QEMU_ARGS]
                         [--qcow2] [--qcow2-arg QEMU_ARGS]
                         [--compression COMPRESSION]
                         [--compress-arg COMPRESS_ARGS] [--app-name APP_NAME]
                         [--app-template APP_TEMPLATE] [--app-file APP_FILE]
                         [--ram MEMORY] [--cpu CPU] [--vcpus VCPUS]
                         [--vnc VNC] [--arch ARCH] [--kernel-args KERNEL_ARGS]
                         [--firmware FW_PATH] [--virt-uefi] [--no-kvm]
                         [--with-rng WITH_RNG] [--dracut-conf DRACUT_CONF]
                         [--dracut-arg DRACUT_ARGS]
                         [--live-rootfs-size LIVE_ROOTFS_SIZE]
                         [--live-rootfs-keep-size] [--oci-config OCI_CONFIG]
                         [--oci-runtime OCI_RUNTIME]
                         [--vagrant-metadata VAGRANT_METADATA]
                         [--vagrantfile VAGRANTFILE] [--project PRODUCT]
                         [-p PRODUCT] [--releasever RELEASEVER]
                         [--volid VOLID] [--squashfs-only]
                         [--rootfs-type ROOTFSTYPE] [--timeout TIMEOUT] [-V]
livemedia-creator: error: unrecognized arguments:  --iso-only  --releasever 42

so, it seems that it is not reading \ for multiline.

In the past, when I only used a single job with:

stages:
  - build-iso

build-iso:
  image: fedora:latest
  stage: build-iso
  when: manual
  before_script:
    - dnf install -y lorax pykickstart git anaconda sshpass rsync gh
    - git config --global user.email "littleowl@athenaos.org"
    - git config --global user.name "Little Owl"
    - git remote set-url origin "https://gitlab-ci-token:${CI_PUSH_TOKEN}@gitlab.com/${CI_PROJECT_PATH}.git"
  script:
    #- git clone https://pagure.io/fedora-kickstarts.git
    #- cp athena-iso.ks fedora-kickstarts/athena-iso.ks
    #- cd fedora-kickstarts
    #- ksflatten -c athena-iso.ks -o athena-flatten.ks
    - livemedia-creator --make-iso --ks athena-iso.ks --no-virt --iso-only --iso-name athenaos-live-x86_64.iso --resultdir ./results --releasever 42
    - sha256sum ./results/athenaos-live-x86_64.iso | tee ./results/athenaos-live-x86_64.iso.sha256
    - sshpass -p "${MIRROR_SECRET}" rsync -avzzlr --delete -e "ssh -p 1027 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null" results/athenaos-live-x86_64.iso results/athenaos-live-x86_64.iso.sha256 ${MIRROR_USER}@hub.athenaos.org:/srv/mirrors/athena-images/rolling/

it worked.

Why on my new use case with two jobs, I cannot use multiline by \?

Steps to reproduce

Just create a test repository with this .ks file and run a GitLab CI with the following file:

stages:
  - build-iso

# --- Reusable bits (anchors) ---
.default_vars: &default_vars
  RELEASEVER: "42"
  ISO_BASENAME: "athenaos-live"

.common_before: &common_before
  - dnf install -y lorax pykickstart git anaconda sshpass rsync gh
  - git config --global user.email "littleowl@athenaos.org"
  - git config --global user.name "Little Owl"
  - git remote set-url origin "https://gitlab-ci-token:${CI_PUSH_TOKEN}@gitlab.com/${CI_PROJECT_PATH}.git"

# ---------- x86_64 ----------
build-iso:x86_64:
  stage: build-iso
  image: fedora:latest           # pulls x86_64 on an x86_64 runner
  #tags:
  #  - x86_64                     # <-- your x86_64 runner tag
  when: manual                   # keep manual like your original
  variables:
    <<: *default_vars
    ARCH: "x86_64"
    OUTDIR: "results/${ARCH}"
    ISO_NAME: "${ISO_BASENAME}-${ARCH}.iso"
  before_script: *common_before
  script:
    - mkdir -p "${OUTDIR}"
    - livemedia-creator --make-iso --ks athena-iso.ks --no-virt \
        --iso-only --iso-name "${ISO_NAME}" --resultdir "${OUTDIR}" \
        --releasever "${RELEASEVER}"
    - sha256sum "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" | tee "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256"
    - sshpass -p "${MIRROR_SECRET}" rsync -avzzlr --delete \
        -e "ssh -p 1027 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null" \
        "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256" \
        "${MIRROR_USER}@hub.athenaos.org:/srv/mirrors/athena-images/rolling/"
    - gh release upload "v23.11" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" --repo Athena-OS/athena --clobber
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - "${OUTDIR}/"

# ---------- aarch64 ----------
build-iso:aarch64:
  stage: build-iso
  image: fedora:latest           # pulls aarch64 on an ARM64 runner
  tags:
    - saas-linux-small-arm64                      # <-- your ARM64 runner tag
  when: manual
  variables:
    <<: *default_vars
    ARCH: "aarch64"
    OUTDIR: "results/${ARCH}"
    ISO_NAME: "${ISO_BASENAME}-${ARCH}.iso"
  before_script: *common_before
  script:
    - mkdir -p "${OUTDIR}"
    - livemedia-creator --make-iso --ks athena-iso.ks --no-virt \
        --iso-only --iso-name "${ISO_NAME}" --resultdir "${OUTDIR}" \
        --releasever "${RELEASEVER}"
    - sha256sum "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" | tee "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256"
    - sshpass -p "${MIRROR_SECRET}" rsync -avzzlr --delete \
        -e "ssh -p 1027 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null" \
        "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}.sha256" \
        "${MIRROR_USER}@hub.athenaos.org:/srv/mirrors/athena-images/rolling/"
    - gh release upload "v23.11" "${OUTDIR}/${ISO_NAME}" --repo Athena-OS/athena --clobber
  artifacts:
    when: always
    paths:
      - "${OUTDIR}/"

Configuration

Add the CI/CD configuration from .gitlab-ci.yml and other configuration if relevant (e.g. docker-compose.yml). Alternatively, create a public GitLab.com example project that provides all necessary files to reproduce the question.

Versions

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Self-managed
GitLab.com SaaS
Dedicated
Self-hosted Runners

Versions

GitLab (Web: /help or self-managed system information sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info):
GitLab Runner, if self-hosted (Web /admin/runners or CLI gitlab-runner --version):

Helpful resources

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Check the GitLab and GitLab Runner projects for existing issues. If you encounter a bug, please create a bug report issue.
Review existing troubleshooting docs.

Thanks for taking the time to be thorough in your request, it really helps!

D3vil0per · August 23, 2025, 12:53pm

I solved by removing \. I followed Multiline YAML string for GitLab CI (.gitlab-ci.yml) - Stack Overflow

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CI with multiple job, \ new line does not work

Problem to solve

Steps to reproduce

Configuration

Versions

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