Running pipeline returns No stages / jobs for this pipeline

GitLab CI/CD
1

Hello,
I’m trying to run gitlab CI stages based on which files changed in the MR. The changes: rule is not sufficient because for example:
A MR contains changes in two different directories X & Y and two stages that are run based on changes in X or Y.
If you run the pipeline in the MR first time and job X runs and fails the merge can’t happen, but if you run it a second time with changes to Y then the pipeline runs only stage Y and it succeeds. Even though the first pipeline which had errors in directory X failed.
My attempt on this is:

image: docker:latest

services:
  - docker:dind

renovate:
  stage: build
  variables:
    DIR_IN_MR: $(git diff --name-status $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME..$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME | cut -f2 | cut -d '/' -f 1 | uniq | grep -q dir_x && echo $?)
  rules:
    - if: $DIR_IN_MR == "0"
  script:
    - echo 1

My problem is when I try to run it, it returns No stages / jobs for this pipeline even though dir_x exists in the project. How can this be solved?

2

Hi @alterEgo123

variables are not evaluated like in Shell, so the value of your DIR_IN_MR variable is actually a string $(git diff --name-status $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME..$CI_MERGE_REQUEST_SOURCE_BRANCH_NAME | cut -f2 | cut -d '/' -f 1 | uniq | grep -q dir_x && echo $?)

Variables are only string values, there is no expantion performed.

3

Thank you for your response,
Is there any workaround for this?

4

The rules.changes won’t work for you?

5

It causes faulty results because in a single MR if it takes into consideration directory x which fails the pipeline at first and the merge can’t happen, and afterwards it takes into consideration directory y that makes the pipeline succeed the merge will happen because the latest pipeline is successful.

6

Nope, it will execute the job if the change happened in previous commits as well.

7

This is an example
Screenshot from 2022-04-07 11-15-14
h
The gitlab-ci file contains the rules.changes, but only took it into consideration per commit

8

Maybe we are both talking about something else? Because I cannot replicate what you are saying, see MR1

2 commits, 2 pipelines. First commit faulty, pipeline failed. Second commit to a different directory, pipeline still failed, because both commits are tested.

EDIT: Created MR2 after 2 commits in a branch already exist = 1 pipeline. Pipeline failed, because changes from both commits are tested

EDIT2: Created MR3 with single job to run if change in any directory. Still fails.