[petsc-dev] Pause-for-approval Pipelines?

[Satish Balay]

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020, Satish Balay via petsc-dev wrote:

> The above is  hard for me to digest - so I think its best to frame this differently.
> 
> 1. ReadTheDocs is not setup in .gitlab-ci.yml
> 
> 2. We have merge_request pipelines - and web pipelines [api pipeline is similar to web]
> 
> 3. I think both - web, merge_request pipelines trigger ReadTheDocs job
> 
> 4. Web pipeline appears to get a 6th stage from the ReadTheDocs job [because both are run on the branch - and the hash matches]
> 
> 5. Web pipelines are manually started. But MR pipelines are automatically started [I don't see an option to disable this auto start]
> 
> 6. The ReadTheDocs job  is run on the branch - even when triggered by merge_request pipeline. As the branch hash and the merge hash
> are different - they are getting listed as 2 pipelines.
> 
> And I think this separate pipeline listing by ReadTheDocs is causing grief with the MR webpage [it assumes the tests have passed]
> 
> So the likely fixes:
> 
> - ReadTheDocs triggered by MR pipeline should use the merge - and not the original branch [and not create a separate pipeline listing]. This should cut down the pipeline listing by half
> - somehow disable auto start of MR pipelines [this should eliminate the remaining pipeline listings.

https://gitlab.com/petsc/petsc/-/issues/360#note_402053765

Ok - I understand the 'hanging' pipeline issue better now.

- Multiple ReadTheDocs jobs can be triggered on the same commit.

- perhaps one from the web pipeline [when one starts this manually]
- irrespective of the above - MR pipeline is automatically triggered. And this triggers another ReadTheDocs pipeline (and this pipeline is run on the branch - not a merge of branch+master)
- one might want to start a new MR pipeline with a merge with updates in master

ReadTheDocs sees the second pipeline as duplicate - and errors out.

- for some reason gitlab does not get this error message or misinterprets it - and the job is listed as 'external:pending'

Satish