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

[Satish Balay]

On Thu, 27 Aug 2020, Barry Smith wrote:

> 
> 
> > On Aug 27, 2020, at 6:25 PM, Satish Balay <balay at mcs.anl.gov> wrote:
> > 
> > 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]
> 
>   But but but, Jed said we had to enable MR pipelines or readthedocs won't work. So readthedocs cannot be triggered by a manual pipeline
> 
>   I would prefer the model that we in our scripts contact readthedocs to request they do a build, not having it automatically triggered by changes in GitLab, they may or may not support this but if they do it is hidden from Jed.

I don't understand how readthedocs is setup or how it works. And I think its the cause for most of the current issues.

Its best to disable it completely for now - and see if most of the current issues go away or not

Sure - the auto-start will keep populating the pipeline queue for every push  on a MR (if readthedocs is disabled - it should be cut down by half) - but that's the current trade-off.

Satish

> 
> 
> > - 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
>