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11 KiB
Markdown
208 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
---
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comments: false
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description: "Learn how to use GitLab CI/CD, the GitLab built-in Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, and Continuous Delivery toolset to build, test, and deploy your application."
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type: index
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---
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# GitLab CI/CD
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GitLab CI/CD is a tool built into GitLab for software development
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through the [continuous methodologies](introduction/index.md#introduction-to-cicd-methodologies):
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- Continuous Integration (CI)
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- Continuous Delivery (CD)
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- Continuous Deployment (CD)
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NOTE: **Out-of-the-box management systems can decrease hours spent on maintaining toolchains by 10% or more.**
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Watch our
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["Mastering continuous software development"](https://about.gitlab.com/webcast/mastering-ci-cd/)
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webcast to learn about continuous methods and how GitLab’s built-in CI can help you simplify and scale software development.
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## Overview
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Continuous Integration works by pushing small code chunks to your
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application's code base hosted in a Git repository, and, to every
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push, run a pipeline of scripts to build, test, and validate the
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code changes before merging them into the main branch.
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Continuous Delivery and Deployment consist of a step further CI,
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deploying your application to production at every
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push to the default branch of the repository.
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These methodologies allow you to catch bugs and errors early in
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the development cycle, ensuring that all the code deployed to
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production complies with the code standards you established for
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your app.
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For a complete overview of these methodologies and GitLab CI/CD,
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read the [Introduction to CI/CD with GitLab](introduction/index.md).
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<i class="fa fa-youtube-play youtube" aria-hidden="true"></i>
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For a video demonstration of GitLab CI/CD, see [Demo: CI/CD with GitLab](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iXFbchozdY).
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## Getting started
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GitLab CI/CD is configured by a file called `.gitlab-ci.yml` placed
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at the repository's root. The scripts set in this file are executed
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by the [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/).
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To get started with GitLab CI/CD, we recommend you read through
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the following documents:
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- [How GitLab CI/CD works](introduction/index.md#how-gitlab-cicd-works).
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- [Fundamental pipeline architectures](pipelines/pipeline_architectures.md).
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- [GitLab CI/CD basic workflow](introduction/index.md#basic-cicd-workflow).
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- [Step-by-step guide for writing `.gitlab-ci.yml` for the first time](../user/project/pages/getting_started_part_four.md).
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If you're coming over from Jenkins, you can also check out our handy [reference](jenkins/index.md)
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for converting your pipelines.
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You can also get started by using one of the
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[`.gitlab-ci.yml` templates](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/tree/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates)
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available through the UI. You can use them by creating a new file,
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choosing a template that suits your application, and adjusting it
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to your needs:
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For a broader overview, see the [CI/CD getting started](quick_start/README.md) guide.
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Once you're familiar with how GitLab CI/CD works, see the
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[`.gitlab-ci.yml` full reference](yaml/README.md)
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for all the attributes you can set and use.
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NOTE: **Note:**
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GitLab CI/CD and [shared runners](runners/README.md#shared-specific-and-group-runners) are enabled in GitLab.com and available for all users, limited only to the [user's pipelines quota](../user/gitlab_com/index.md#shared-runners).
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## Configuration
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GitLab CI/CD supports numerous configuration options:
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| Configuration | Description |
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|:--------------|:-------------|
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| [Pipelines](pipelines/index.md) | Structure your CI/CD process through pipelines. |
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| [Environment variables](variables/README.md) | Reuse values based on a variable/value key pair. |
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| [Environments](environments.md) | Deploy your application to different environments (e.g., staging, production). |
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| [Job artifacts](pipelines/job_artifacts.md) | Output, use, and reuse job artifacts. |
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| [Cache dependencies](caching/index.md) | Cache your dependencies for a faster execution. |
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| [Schedule pipelines](pipelines/schedules.md) | Schedule pipelines to run as often as you need. |
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| [Custom path for `.gitlab-ci.yml`](pipelines/settings.md#custom-ci-configuration-path) | Define a custom path for the CI/CD configuration file. |
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| [Git submodules for CI/CD](git_submodules.md) | Configure jobs for using Git submodules.|
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| [SSH keys for CI/CD](ssh_keys/README.md) | Using SSH keys in your CI pipelines. |
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| [Pipelines triggers](triggers/README.md) | Trigger pipelines through the API. |
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| [Pipelines for Merge Requests](merge_request_pipelines/index.md) | Design a pipeline structure for running a pipeline in merge requests. |
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| [Integrate with Kubernetes clusters](../user/project/clusters/index.md) | Connect your project to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or an existing Kubernetes cluster. |
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| [GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) | Configure your own GitLab Runners to execute your scripts. |
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| [Optimize GitLab and Runner for large repositories](large_repositories/index.md) | Recommended strategies for handling large repos. |
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| [`.gitlab-ci.yml` full reference](yaml/README.md) | All the attributes you can use with GitLab CI/CD. |
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Note that certain operations can only be performed according to the
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[user](../user/permissions.md#gitlab-cicd-permissions) and [job](../user/permissions.md#job-permissions) permissions.
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## Feature set
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Use the vast GitLab CI/CD to easily configure it for specific purposes.
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Its feature set is listed on the table below according to DevOps stages.
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| Feature | Description |
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|:--------|:------------|
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| **Configure** ||
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| [Auto DevOps](../topics/autodevops/index.md) | Set up your app's entire lifecycle. |
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| [ChatOps](chatops/README.md) | Trigger CI jobs from chat, with results sent back to the channel. |
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|---+---|
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| **Verify** ||
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| [Browser Performance Testing](../user/project/merge_requests/browser_performance_testing.md) | Quickly determine the performance impact of pending code changes. |
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| [CI services](services/README.md) | Link Docker containers with your base image.|
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| [Code Quality](../user/project/merge_requests/code_quality.md) **(STARTER)** | Analyze your source code quality. |
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| [GitLab CI/CD for external repositories](ci_cd_for_external_repos/index.md) **(PREMIUM)** | Get the benefits of GitLab CI/CD combined with repositories in GitHub and Bitbucket Cloud. |
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| [Interactive Web Terminals](interactive_web_terminal/index.md) **(CORE ONLY)** | Open an interactive web terminal to debug the running jobs. |
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| [JUnit tests](junit_test_reports.md) | Identify script failures directly on merge requests. |
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| [Using Docker images](docker/using_docker_images.md) | Use GitLab and GitLab Runner with Docker to build and test applications. |
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|---+---|
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| **Release** ||
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| [Auto Deploy](../topics/autodevops/index.md#auto-deploy) | Deploy your application to a production environment in a Kubernetes cluster. |
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| [Building Docker images](docker/using_docker_build.md) | Maintain Docker-based projects using GitLab CI/CD. |
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| [Canary Deployments](../user/project/canary_deployments.md) **(PREMIUM)** | Ship features to only a portion of your pods and let a percentage of your user base to visit the temporarily deployed feature. |
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| [Deploy Boards](../user/project/deploy_boards.md) **(PREMIUM)** | Check the current health and status of each CI/CD environment running on Kubernetes. |
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| [Feature Flags](../user/project/operations/feature_flags.md) **(PREMIUM)** | Deploy your features behind Feature Flags. |
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| [GitLab Pages](../user/project/pages/index.md) | Deploy static websites. |
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| [GitLab Releases](../user/project/releases/index.md) | Add release notes to Git tags. |
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| [Review Apps](review_apps/index.md) | Configure GitLab CI/CD to preview code changes. |
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| [Cloud deployment](cloud_deployment/index.md) | Deploy your application to a main cloud provider. |
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| **Secure** ||
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| [Container Scanning](../user/application_security/container_scanning/index.md) **(ULTIMATE)** | Check your Docker containers for known vulnerabilities.|
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| [Dependency Scanning](../user/application_security/dependency_scanning/index.md) **(ULTIMATE)** | Analyze your dependencies for known vulnerabilities. |
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| [License Compliance](../user/compliance/license_compliance/index.md) **(ULTIMATE)** | Search your project dependencies for their licenses. |
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| [Security Test reports](../user/application_security/index.md) **(ULTIMATE)** | Check for app vulnerabilities. |
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## Examples
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Find example project code and tutorials for using GitLab CI/CD with a variety of app frameworks, languages, and platforms
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on the [CI Examples](examples/README.md) page.
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GitLab also provides [example projects](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-examples) pre-configured to use GitLab CI/CD.
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## Administration **(CORE ONLY)**
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As a GitLab administrator, you can change the default behavior
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of GitLab CI/CD for:
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- An [entire GitLab instance](../user/admin_area/settings/continuous_integration.md).
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- Specific projects, using [pipelines settings](pipelines/settings.md).
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See also:
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- [How to enable or disable GitLab CI/CD](enable_or_disable_ci.md).
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- Other [CI administration settings](../administration/index.md#continuous-integration-settings).
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## References
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### Why GitLab CI/CD?
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The following articles explain reasons to use GitLab CI/CD
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for your CI/CD infrastructure:
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- [Why we chose GitLab CI for our CI/CD solution](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/10/17/gitlab-ci-oohlala/)
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- [Building our web-app on GitLab CI](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/07/22/building-our-web-app-on-gitlab-ci/)
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- [5 Teams that made the switch to GitLab CI/CD](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2019/04/25/5-teams-that-made-the-switch-to-gitlab-ci-cd/)
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See also the [Why CI/CD?](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OGgk2Tcxbpl7DJaIOzCX4Vqg3dlwfELC3u2jEeCBbDk) presentation.
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### Breaking changes
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As GitLab CI/CD has evolved, certain breaking changes have
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been necessary. These are:
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#### 12.0
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- [Use refspec to clone/fetch Git
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repository](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/4069).
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- [Old cache
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configuration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/4070).
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- [Old metrics server
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configuration](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/4072).
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- [Remove
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`FF_K8S_USE_ENTRYPOINT_OVER_COMMAND`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/4073).
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- [Remove Linux distributions that reach
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EOL](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/merge_requests/1130).
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- [Update command line API for helper
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images](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/4013).
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- [Remove old `git clean`
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flow](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/issues/4175).
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#### 11.0
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- No breaking changes.
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#### 10.0
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- No breaking changes.
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#### 9.0
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- [CI variables renaming for GitLab 9.0](variables/deprecated_variables.md#gitlab-90-renamed-variables). Read about the
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deprecated CI variables and what you should use for GitLab 9.0+.
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- [New CI job permissions model](../user/project/new_ci_build_permissions_model.md).
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See what changed in GitLab 8.12 and how that affects your jobs.
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There's a new way to access your Git submodules and LFS objects in jobs.
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