info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
- The VM is active only for the duration of the job and immediately deleted. This means that any changes that your job makes to the virtual machine will not be available to a subsequent job.
- The virtual machine where your job runs has `sudo` access with no password.
NOTE:
Each time you run a job that requires tooling or dependencies not available in the base image, those items must be added to the newly provisioned build VM. That process will likely increase the total job duration.
GitLab expects to release new images based on this cadence:
macOS updates:
- **For new OS versions:** When Apple releases a new macOS version to developers (like macOS `12`), GitLab will plan to release an image based on the OS within the next 30 business days. The image is considered `beta` and the contents of the image (including tool versions) are subject to change until the first patch release (`12.1`). The long-term name will not include `beta` (for example, `macos-12-xcode-13`), so customers are moved automatically out of beta over time. GitLab will try to minimize breaking changes between the first two minor versions but makes no guarantees. Tooling often gets critical bug fixes after the first public release of an OS version.
- **After the first patch release (`12.1`):**
- The image moves to `maintenance` mode. The tools GitLab builds into the image with Homebrew and asdf are frozen. GitLab continues making Xcode updates, security updates, and any non-breaking changes deemed necessary.
- The image for the previous OS version (`11`) moves to `frozen` mode. GitLab then does only unavoidable changes: security updates, runner version upgrades, and setting the production password.
Both macOS and Xcode follow a yearly release cadence. As time goes on, GitLab increments their versions synchronously (meaning we build macOS 11 with Xcode 12, macOS 12 with Xcode 13, and so on).
