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Updated Pages docs 

Tested example and re-wrote accordingly.
Related to: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/216063
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doc/user/project/pages/getting_started_part_four.md
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......@@ -6,137 +6,131 @@ group: Release Management
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/#designated-technical-writers
---
# Creating and Tweaking GitLab CI/CD for GitLab Pages
To [get started with GitLab Pages](index.md#getting-started), you can
use one of the project templates, a `.gitlab-ci.yml` template,
or fork an existing example project. Therefore, you don't need to
understand _all_ the ins and odds of GitLab CI/CD to get your site
deployed. Still, there are cases where you want to write your own
script or tweak an existing one. This document guides you through
this process.
This guide also provides a general overview and clear introduction
for **getting familiar with the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file and writing
one for the first time.**
[GitLab CI/CD](../../../ci/README.md) serves
numerous purposes, to build, test, and deploy your app
from GitLab through
[Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous Deployment](../../../ci/introduction/index.md#introduction-to-cicd-methodologies)
methods. You will need it to build your website with GitLab Pages,
and deploy it to the Pages server.
To implement GitLab CI/CD, the first thing you need is a configuration
file called `.gitlab-ci.yml` placed at your website's root directory.
What this file actually does is telling the
[GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/) to run scripts
as you would do from the command line. The Runner acts as your
terminal. GitLab CI/CD tells the Runner which commands to run.
Both are built-in in GitLab, and you don't need to set up
anything for them to work.
Explaining [every detail of GitLab CI/CD](../../../ci/yaml/README.md)
and GitLab Runner is out of the scope of this guide, but we'll
need to understand just a few things to be able to write our own
`.gitlab-ci.yml` or tweak an existing one. It's a
[YAML](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/YAMLSyntax.html) file,
with its own syntax. You can always check your CI syntax with
the [GitLab CI/CD Lint Tool](https://gitlab.com/ci/lint).
## Practical example
Let's consider you have a [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) site.
To build it locally, you would open your terminal, and run `jekyll build`.
Of course, before building it, you had to install Jekyll in your computer.
For that, you had to open your terminal and run `gem install jekyll`.
Right? GitLab CI/CD + GitLab Runner do the same thing. But you need to
write in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` the script you want to run so
GitLab Runner will do it for you. It looks more complicated than it
is. What you need to tell the Runner:
```shell
gem install jekyll
jekyll build
```
# Create a GitLab Pages website from scratch
This tutorial shows you how to create a Pages site from scratch. You will start with
a blank project and create your own CI file, which gives instruction to the
[GitLab Runner](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/). When your CI/CD
[pipeline](../../../ci/pipelines/index.md) runs, the Pages site is created.
This example uses the [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) Static Site Generator (SSG).
Other SSGs follow similar steps. You do not need to be familiar with Jekyll or SSGs
to complete this tutorial.
## Prerequisites
To follow along with this example, start with a blank project in GitLab.
Create three files in the root (top-level) directory.
- `.gitlab-ci.yml` A YAML file that contains the commands you want to run.
For now, leave the file's contents blank.
- `index.html` An HTML file you can populate with whatever HTML content you'd like,
for example:
### Script
```html
<html>
<head>
<title>Home</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello World!</h1>
</body>
</html>
```
To transpose this script to YAML, it would be like this:
- [`Gemfile`](https://bundler.io/gemfile.html) A file that describes dependencies for Ruby programs.
Populate it with this content:
```ruby
source "https://rubygems.org"
gem "jekyll"
```
## Choose a Docker image
In this example, the Runner uses a [Docker image](../../../ci/docker/using_docker_images.md)
to run scripts and deploy the site.
This specific Ruby image is maintained on [DockerHub](https://hub.docker.com/_/ruby).
Edit your `.gitlab-ci.yml` and add this text as the first line.
```yaml
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
image: ruby:2.7
```
### Job
If your SSG needs [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/) to build, you must specify an
image that contains NodeJS as part of its file system. For example, for a
[Hexo](https://gitlab.com/pages/hexo) site, you can use `image: node:12.17.0`.
## Install Jekyll
To run [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/) locally, you would open your terminal and:
- Install [Bundler](https://bundler.io/) by running `gem install bundler`.
- Create `Gemfile.lock` by running `bundle install`.
- Install Jekyll by running `bundle exec jekyll build`.
So far so good. Now, each `script`, in GitLab is organized by
a `job`, which is a bunch of scripts and settings you want to
apply to that specific task.
In the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, this is written as:
```yaml
job:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build
```
For GitLab Pages, this `job` has a specific name, called `pages`,
which tells the Runner you want that task to deploy your website
with GitLab Pages:
In addition, in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, each `script` is organized by a `job`.
A `job` includes the scripts and settings you want to apply to that specific
task.
```yaml
pages:
job:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build
```
### The `public` directory
We also need to tell Jekyll where do you want the website to build,
and GitLab Pages will only consider files in a directory called `public`.
To do that with Jekyll, we need to add a flag specifying the
[destination (`-d`)](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/usage/) of the
built website: `jekyll build -d public`. Of course, we need
to tell this to our Runner:
For GitLab Pages, this `job` has a specific name, called `pages`.
This setting tells the Runner you want the job to deploy your website
with GitLab Pages:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build -d public
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build
```
### Artifacts
## Specify the `public` directory for output
We also need to tell the Runner that this _job_ generates
_artifacts_, which is the site built by Jekyll.
Where are these artifacts stored? In the `public` directory:
Jekyll needs to know where to generate its output.
GitLab Pages only considers files in a directory called `public`.
Jekyll uses destination (`-d`) to specify an output directory for the built website:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install jekyll
- jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
paths:
- public
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
```
The script above would be enough to build your Jekyll
site with GitLab Pages. But, from Jekyll 3.4.0 on, its default
template originated by `jekyll new project` requires
[Bundler](https://bundler.io) to install Jekyll dependencies
and the default theme. To adjust our script to meet these new
requirements, we only need to install and build Jekyll with Bundler:
## Specify the `public` directory for artifacts
Now that Jekyll has output the files to the `public` directory,
the Runner needs to know where to get them. The artifacts are stored
in the `public` directory:
```yaml
pages:
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
......@@ -144,27 +138,14 @@ pages:
- public
```
That's it! A `.gitlab-ci.yml` with the content above would deploy
your Jekyll 3.4.0 site with GitLab Pages. This is the minimum
configuration for our example. On the steps below, we'll refine
the script by adding extra options to our GitLab CI/CD.
Artifacts will be automatically deleted once GitLab Pages got deployed.
You can preserve artifacts for limited time by specifying the expiry time.
### Image
At this point, you probably ask yourself: "okay, but to install Jekyll
I need Ruby. Where is Ruby on that script?". The answer is simple: the
first thing GitLab Runner will look for in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` is a
[Docker](https://www.docker.com/) image specifying what do you need in
your container to run that script:
Paste this into `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, so it now looks like this:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.7
pages:
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
......@@ -172,39 +153,31 @@ pages:
- public
```
In this case, you're telling the Runner to pull this image, which
contains Ruby 2.7 as part of its file system. When you don't specify
this image in your configuration, the Runner will use a default
image, which is Ruby 2.6.
Now save and commit the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. You can watch the pipeline run
by going to **CI / CD > Pipelines**.
When it succeeds, go to **Settings > Pages** to view the URL where your site
is now available.
If your SSG needs [NodeJS](https://nodejs.org/) to build, you'll
need to specify which image you want to use, and this image should
contain NodeJS as part of its file system. E.g., for a
[Hexo](https://gitlab.com/pages/hexo) site, you can use `image: node:4.2.2`.
If you want to do more advanced tasks, you can update your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file
with [any of the available settings](../../../ci/yaml/README.md). You can check
your CI syntax with the [GitLab CI/CD Lint Tool](https://gitlab.com/ci/lint).
>**Note:**
We're not trying to explain what a Docker image is,
we just need to introduce the concept with a minimum viable
explanation. To know more about Docker images, please visit
their website or take a look at a
[summarized explanation](http://paislee.io/how-to-automate-docker-deployments/) here.
The following topics show other examples of other options you can add to your CI/CD file.
Let's go a little further.
## Deploy specific branches to a Pages site
### Branching
You may want to deploy to a Pages site only from specific branches.
If you use GitLab as a version control platform, you will have your
branching strategy to work on your project. Meaning, you will have
other branches in your project, but you'll want only pushes to the
default branch (usually `master`) to be deployed to your website.
To do that, we need to add another line to our CI, telling the Runner
to only perform that _job_ called `pages` on the `master` branch `only`:
You can add another line to `.gitlab-ci.yml`, which tells the Runner
to perform the job called `pages` on the `master` branch **only**:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.6
image: ruby:2.7
pages:
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
......@@ -214,21 +187,25 @@ pages:
- master
```
### Stages
## Specify a stage to deploy
Another interesting concept to keep in mind are build stages.
Your web app can pass through a lot of tests and other tasks
until it's deployed to staging or production environments.
There are three default stages on GitLab CI/CD: build, test,
and deploy. To specify which stage your _job_ is running,
simply add another line to your CI:
There are three default stages for GitLab CI/CD: build, test,
and deploy.
If you want to test your script and check the built site before deploying
to production, you can run the test exactly as it will run when you
push to `master`.
To specify a stage for your job to run in,
add a `stage` line to your CI file:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.6
image: ruby:2.7
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
......@@ -238,20 +215,16 @@ pages:
- master
```
You might ask yourself: "why should I bother with stages
at all?" Well, let's say you want to be able to test your
script and check the built site before deploying your site
to production. You want to run the test exactly as your
script will do when you push to `master`. It's simple,
let's add another task (_job_) to our CI, telling it to
test every push to other branches, `except` the `master` branch:
Now add another job to the CI file, telling it to
test every push to other branches, **except** the `master` branch:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.6
image: ruby:2.7
pages:
stage: deploy
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d public
artifacts:
......@@ -263,6 +236,7 @@ pages:
test:
stage: test
script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
- bundle exec jekyll build -d test
artifacts:
......@@ -272,34 +246,31 @@ test:
- master
```
The `test` job is running on the stage `test`, Jekyll
will build the site in a directory called `test`, and
this job will affect all the branches except `master`.
The best benefit of applying _stages_ to different
_jobs_ is that every job in the same stage builds in
parallel. So, if your web app needs more than one test
before being deployed, you can run all your test at the
same time, it's not necessary to wait one test to finish
to run the other. Of course, this is just a brief
introduction of GitLab CI/CD and GitLab Runner, which are
tools much more powerful than that. This is what you
need to be able to create and tweak your builds for
your GitLab Pages site.
### Before Script
To avoid running the same script multiple times across
your _jobs_, you can add the parameter `before_script`,
in which you specify which commands you want to run for
every single _job_. In our example, notice that we run
`bundle install` for both jobs, `pages` and `test`.
We don't need to repeat it:
When the `test` job runs in the `test` stage, Jekyll
builds the site in a directory called `test`. The job affects
all branches except `master`.
When you apply stages to different jobs, every job in the same
stage builds in parallel. If your web application needs more than
one test before being deployed, you can run all your tests at the
same time.
## Remove duplicate commands
To avoid running the same scripts for each job, you can add the
parameter `before_script`. In this section, specify the commands
you want to run for every job.
In the example, `gem install bundler` and `bundle install` were running
for both jobs, `pages` and `test`.
Move these commands to a `before_script` section:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.6
image: ruby:2.7
before_script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install
pages:
......@@ -323,22 +294,23 @@ test:
- master
```
### Caching Dependencies
## Build faster with cached dependencies
If you want to cache the installation files for your
projects dependencies, for building faster, you can
use the parameter `cache`. For this example, we'll
cache Jekyll dependencies in a `vendor` directory
when we run `bundle install`:
To build faster, you can cache the installation files for your
project's dependencies by using the `cache` parameter.
This example caches Jekyll dependencies in a `vendor` directory
when you run `bundle install`:
```yaml
image: ruby:2.6
image: ruby:2.7
cache:
paths:
- vendor/
before_script:
- gem install bundler
- bundle install --path vendor
pages:
......@@ -362,36 +334,31 @@ test:
- master
```
For this specific case, we need to exclude `/vendor`
from Jekyll `_config.yml` file, otherwise Jekyll will
understand it as a regular directory to build
together with the site:
In this case, we need to exclude the `/vendor`
directory from the list of folders Jekyll builds. Otherwise, Jekyll
will try to build the directory contents along with the site.
In the root directory, create a file called `_config.yml`
and add this content:
```yaml
exclude:
- vendor
```
There we go! Now our GitLab CI/CD not only builds our website,
but also **continuously test** pushes to feature-branches,
Now GitLab CI/CD not only builds the website,
but also pushes with **continuous tests** to feature-branches,
**caches** dependencies installed with Bundler, and
**continuously deploy** every push to the `master` branch.
**continuously deploys** every push to the `master` branch.
## Advanced GitLab CI for GitLab Pages
## Related topics
What you can do with GitLab CI/CD is pretty much up to your
creativity. Once you get used to it, you start creating
awesome scripts that automate most of tasks you'd do
manually in the past. Read through the
[documentation of GitLab CI/CD](../../../ci/yaml/README.md)
to understand how to go even further on your scripts.
For more information, see the following blog posts.
- On this blog post, understand the concept of
[using GitLab CI/CD `environments` to deploy your
- [Use GitLab CI/CD `environments` to deploy your
web app to staging and production](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/08/26/ci-deployment-and-environments/).
- On this post, learn [how to run jobs sequentially,
in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/)
- On this blog post, we go through the process of
[pulling specific directories from different projects](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/12/07/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages/)
to deploy this website you're looking at, <https://docs.gitlab.com>.
- On this blog post, we teach you [how to use GitLab Pages to produce a code coverage report](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/11/03/publish-code-coverage-report-with-gitlab-pages/).
- Learn [how to run jobs sequentially,
in parallel, or build a custom pipeline](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/07/29/the-basics-of-gitlab-ci/).
- Learn [how to pull specific directories from different projects](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/12/07/building-a-new-gitlab-docs-site-with-nanoc-gitlab-ci-and-gitlab-pages/)
to deploy this website, <https://docs.gitlab.com>.
- Learn [how to use GitLab Pages to produce a code coverage report](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/11/03/publish-code-coverage-report-with-gitlab-pages/).
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