2. Pipeline structure

In this lab you will learn how to define and structure a delivery pipeline for GitLab CI/CD.

Task 2.1: Create GitLab CI/CD configuration file

The GitLab CI/CD pipeline configuration has to be placed in a YAML file named .gitlab-ci.yml.

Create an empty .gitlab-ci.yml file in the root directory of your repository.

Task 2.2: Create pipeline structure

GitLab CI reference: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/

The pipeline has basically two parts, the header with global settings followed by the stages.

There exist two basic concepts within the pipeline, jobs and stages.

Jobs, which define what to do. For example, jobs that compile or test code.

Stages, which define when to run the jobs. For example, stages that run tests after stages that compile the code. Beware that every job in the same stage is running concurrently.

Let’s create a minimal pipeline. First we need to change to the correct directory, the root directory of the cloned repository. (from Lab 1.3 )

Open GitBash Terminal and change the directory:

cd <root-directory-of-the-git-repo>

Create a new file .gitlab-ci.yml and add the following content to it. It must be located directly in the root directory of the repository.

vim .gitlab-ci.yml

stages:
  - info

info:
  stage: info
  script:
    - echo "This is your first stage (ツ)"

Commit and push the changes.

git add .
git commit -m "Add minimal pipeline"
git push origin main

Our first pipeline is pretty simple, it has one stage with one job, which only executes a script that echos something during the pipeline run.

Stages

The global settings part contains stage definition.

stages:
  - info

info:
  stage: info
  script:
    - echo "This is your first stage (ツ)"

Jobs

Jobs are the most fundamental element of a GitLab pipeline. You just defined your first job. Its name is info.

stages:
  - info

info:
  stage: info
  script:
    - echo "This is your first stage (ツ)"

Jobs are …

• top-level elements with an arbitrary name and must contain at least the script clause
• defined with constraints stating under what conditions they should be executed
• not limited in how many that can be defined

Task 2.3: Check pipeline execution

Go to your GitLab project and check the pipelines under Build –> Pipelines.

The pipeline at the top of the table is the one that has been triggered by your latest commit.

Clicking on the status or the pipeline number brings you to the pipeline detail view. This page has an overview and tabs for pipeline view, dependencies, jobs and test results. The tabs may vary depending on the version of your GitLab instance. The job logs are available on the job detail view.

Do you find the expected echo string?

2.4: Lab contents

At the end of this day you should have an fully working pipeline with several stages and jobs