Why can I not use inline cache in 1 build job that is almost identical to another, where I can?

GitLab CI/CD
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1

Problem to solve

We want to build a Docker image during out CI pipeline using docker buildx and --cache-to/--cache-from. I already have this working on a personal project just fine, but having copied over the content of the job YAML to our build pipeline it doesn’t work as it fails with the error…

ERROR: Cache export is not supported for the docker driver.
Switch to a different driver, or turn on the containerd image store, and try again.
Learn more at https://docs.docker.com/go/build-cache-backends/

In the job on my personal project I copied this from it works just fine with no complaints.

I’ve checked the docker info and the versions of the docker:git & docker:dind and both are using the same value. I’ve even disabled our company runners so I’m running the job on the Gitlab runners, as my version is, but still the same problem.

I can’t, for the life of me, work out what’s causing the difference between the 2 projects.

Steps to reproduce

Try creating a job using the config files below & build a docker image from a Dockerfile and see if it works. Because the configs are so similar I really can’t advise on how to replicate this.

Configuration

Version from my project that works…

build_images:
  stage: build
  rules:
    - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"'
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH'
    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG'
  image: docker:27.3.1
  services:
    - docker:27.3.1-dind
  before_script:
    - 'docker info'
    - 'docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_JOB_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY'
  script:
    - 'ci_merge_source_branch=$(echo "${CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE}"  | grep "^Source branch: " | sed -e ''s/^Source branch: //'' || true)'
    - 'source_branch_cache_from_arg=""'
    - '[[ "$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH" == "$CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH" && -n "${ci_merge_source_branch}" ]] &&
        source_branch_cache_from_arg="--cache-from type=registry,ref=${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/php:${ci_merge_source_branch}"'
    - 'docker buildx build
        --cache-to type=inline
        --cache-from type=registry,ref=${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/php:${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}
        --cache-from type=registry,ref=${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/php:${CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME}
        --cache-from type=registry,ref=${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/php:${CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH}
        --platform linux/amd64
        -t ${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/php:${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}
        --target frankenphp_prod .'
    - docker push ${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}/php:${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}

Version that is not working for us…

# You can override the included template(s) by including variable overrides
# SAST customization: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/application_security/sast/#customizing-the-sast-settings
# Secret Detection customization: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/application_security/secret_detection/pipeline/#customization
# Dependency Scanning customization: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/application_security/dependency_scanning/#customizing-the-dependency-scanning-settings
# Container Scanning customization: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/application_security/container_scanning/#customizing-the-container-scanning-settings
# Note that environment variables can be set in several places
# See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/variables/#cicd-variable-precedence
include:
  - template: 'Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml'

stages:
  - 'test'

pest_tests:
  stage: 'test'
  image: docker:27.3.1
  services:
    - docker:27.3.1-dind
  variables:
    IMAGE_TAG: '${IMAGE_PREFIX}app-php:$PHP_IMAGE_VERSION'
    DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: "/certs"
  before_script:
    - 'docker info'
    - 'cp .env.ci .env'
    - 'echo "$CI_JOB_TOKEN" | docker login registry.gitlab.com --username gitlab-ci-token --password-stdin'
  script:
    - 'docker buildx build
          --cache-to inline
          --cache-from type=registry,ref=$IMAGE_TAG
          --cache-from type=registry,ref=${IMAGE_PREFIX}app-php:main
          --target frankenphp_dev
          --tag $IMAGE_TAG
          --push
          ./app'
    - 'docker compose run --rm php vendor/bin/pest'

sast:
  stage: 'test'

Versions

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  • Self-managed
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Versions

  • GitLab: GitLab Enterprise Edition 17.6.0-pre e360ca366ce
  • GitLab Runner:…
    Version:      16.9.1
Git revision: 782c6ecb
Git branch:   16-9-stable
GO version:   go1.21.7
Built:        2024-02-28T16:51:21+0000
OS/Arch:      linux/amd64

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