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Using Git submodules with GitLab CI
Notes:
- GitLab 8.12 introduced a new CI job permissions model and you are encouraged to upgrade your GitLab instance if you haven't done already. If you are not using GitLab 8.12 or higher, you would need to work your way around submodules in order to access the sources of e.g.,
gitlab.com/group/project
with the use of SSH keys.- With GitLab 8.12 onward, your permissions are used to evaluate what a CI job can access. More information about how this system works can be found in the Jobs permissions model.
- The HTTP(S) Git protocol must be enabled in your GitLab instance.
Configuring the .gitmodules
file
If dealing with Git submodules, your project will probably have a file
named .gitmodules
.
Let's consider the following example:
- Your project is located at
https://gitlab.com/secret-group/my-project
. - To checkout your sources you usually use an SSH address like
git@gitlab.com:secret-group/my-project.git
. - Your project depends on
https://gitlab.com/group/project
, which you want to include as a submodule.
If you are using GitLab 8.12+ and your submodule is on the same GitLab server,
you must update your .gitmodules
file to use relative URLs.
Since Git allows the usage of relative URLs for your .gitmodules
configuration,
this easily allows you to use HTTP(S) for cloning all your CI jobs and SSH
for all your local checkouts. The .gitmodules
would look like:
[submodule "project"]
path = project
url = ../../group/project.git
The above configuration will instruct Git to automatically deduce the URL that should be used when cloning sources. Whether you use HTTP(S) or SSH, Git will use that same channel and it will allow to make all your CI jobs use HTTP(S) (because GitLab CI only uses HTTP(S) for cloning your sources), and all your local clones will continue using SSH.
For all other submodules not located on the same GitLab server, use the full HTTP(S) protocol URL:
[submodule "project-x"]
path = project-x
url = https://gitserver.com/group/project-x.git
Once .gitmodules
is correctly configured, you can move on to
configuring your .gitlab-ci.yml
.
Using Git submodules in your CI jobs
There are a few steps you need to take in order to make submodules work correctly with your CI jobs:
-
First, make sure you have used relative URLs for the submodules located in the same GitLab server.
-
Next, if you are using
gitlab-runner
v1.10+, you can set theGIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY
variable to eithernormal
orrecursive
to tell the runner to fetch your submodules before the job:variables: GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
See the
.gitlab-ci.yml
reference for more details aboutGIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY
. -
If you are using an older version of
gitlab-runner
, then usegit submodule sync/update
inbefore_script
:before_script: - git submodule sync --recursive - git submodule update --init --recursive
--recursive
should be used in either both or none (sync/update
) depending on whether you have recursive submodules.
The rationale to set the sync
and update
in before_script
is because of
the way Git submodules work. On a fresh Runner workspace, Git will set the
submodule URL including the token in .git/config
(or .git/modules/<submodule>/config
) based on .gitmodules
and the current
remote URL. On subsequent jobs on the same Runner, .git/config
is cached
and already contains a full URL for the submodule, corresponding to the previous
job, and to a token from a previous job. sync
allows to force updating
the full URL.