.gitlab-ci.yaml Conditional Includes

GitLab CI/CD
1

I’d like to conditionally include a file based on some criteria. I’m creating a shared pipeline definition and I’d like to define things and run things only if the project the pipeline it’s running is has specific variables set or if a file exists in the directory. For example, I have language specific yaml files, I’d like to

include: 
   - local: "languages/docker.yaml"
     when: exists(Dockerfile)

Or something along those lines; is there a way to do what I’m looking for?

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2

FYI - was able to get around this by using conditional logic in the included files themselves and scoping variables to job level.

3

This would be useful… Or just “only” the same way as for stages.

4

@cschmidt0n I have exactly the same use case and I badly need to do the same , like I only want 1 specific include to be there based on parameter and I can still keep my pipelines DRY as much as possible.

Would move to see how you defined that in same include file as you described ?

5

Can you please provide some example for it. @cschmidt0n ?
I have a scenario where I just want to include the child yml only when some variable is met and only run a pipeline for that particular directory.

Below is my root .gitlab-ci.yml

include:
  - local: '/A/a.yml'
  - local: '/B/b.yml'
  - local: '/C/c.yml'
  - local: '/D/d.yml'

stages:
 - test
 - build
 - deploy

The stages for all the included pipelines are the same , the only difference is really in the set of variables and semantic-release they use. It would be really helpful to get to only run a single included pipeline and not others hence my ask for conditional include ?

6

I’d like this as well, was somewhat confused by the logic described for workflow templates – I thought thats what this was, e.g. you have one gitlab-ci.yml for lets say merge requests, and a seperate one for your default branch.

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#workflowrules

It would be nice to have the some conditional logic like when: or the if: from workflow rules, e.g.

include:
  - local: .gitlab\MR-workflow.yml
    when:
      - merge_requests
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7

I too would very much like condtionals that use the same if criteria as rules do. I would really like them for include and also extends. Primarily so I can have slightly different builds based on branches and merge requests (eg, build without link-time optimization on some branches)

8

It doesn’t directly address the requirement, but you can kind of achieve the same outcome with dynamic child pipelines - https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/parent_child_pipelines.html#dynamic-child-pipelines.

Just generate the pipeline you want depending on some variables. See e.g. https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/project-templates/jsonnet, although you don’t have to use jsonnet - you can make your generated pipeline with whatever tools you like.

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9

I am looking to include a complete build pipeline only if that part of my repo has changes.
In my case that is, I would like to run the included terraform ci pipeline only if I have changes in a sub dir. Is that not possible at moment or I am I missing something? My case seems like a thing “everybody” would do?

10

So… I realised when posting that this was a year old. I did some further digging

Breadcrumbs:

  1. GitLab CI/CD include examples | GitLab
  2. Keyword reference for the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file | GitLab → says rules keyword changes is not supported"

Is there any other way?

11

Conditional includes with exists are now supported with GitLab 14.5. Related issue: Support conditional includes with exists (#341511) · Issues · GitLab.org / GitLab · GitLab

I’ve tried them in this project

with more screenshots on Twitter :slight_smile:

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