Create merge request from patch files found in gitlab issues

This Automation is used to create merge requests in GitLab based on the patches found in GitLab issue comments. The automation executes gitlab_apply_issue_patch.yaml taskfile. This automation also contains the logic to run this within the Gitlab CD/CI environment. For this you will require the automation config file .nfc_automation.yaml within the root directory of the repository.

Inventory

The automation does not require an inventory as it operates on the specified GitLab repository and merge requests using the ansible host localhost.

Task file: gitlab_apply_issue_patch.yaml

This task file is used to apply patches to the specified repository and merge requests in GitLab. It includes tasks for downloading patches, applying them, pushing the changes to the patch branch, replying to the patch thread, removing the patch from the user's comment, and updating the user by posting a comment to the issue to state why the patch is now non-existant. The automation also includes tasks for collecting telemetry data within ansible facts, which in the future will enable reporting of the time taken and time saved. Facts used for this data are task_finish_epoch and task_duration_ansible.

Workflow

There are countless steps involved within the task file. However, for simplicity the below detailed workflow is the gist of the automation. The additional tasks that are run as part of this automation exist purely to ensure the conditions are met for the workflow to continue. i.e. ensuring that before applying the patch, that the branch was created, we are on the applicable branch and the patch is applicable, as an example. Of note, this task is designed to run again in the event of failure.

Search for open Gitlab issues
from the found issues, fetch all comments and filter to ones that contain an uploaded patch file
clone repo locally
check if patch applies, if not, workflow stop
if patch applies, create branch and push to remote
create MR from patch branch to default branch
apply the patch, and push to remote
remove the patch from the users comment
post comment on issue patch comes from, telling the user, that the patch was removed and the reference to the MR.
post time taken to the MR
workflow end.

Task: Initial Telemetry facts

Name: Initial Telemetry facts
Description: Sets initial telemetry facts including the task duration and start epoch.
Module: ansible.builtin.set_fact
Arguments:
task_duration_human: Sets the time it takes for a human to delete a CI/CD job, which is 900 seconds.
task_start_epoch: Sets the start epoch using the current Ansible date and time.
Conditional: None
Tags: None

Task: Gitlab CI Detection

Name: Gitlab CI Detection
Description: Sets facts related to GitLab CI environment variables.
Module: ansible.builtin.set_fact
Arguments:
project_path: Sets the GitLab project path using the CI_PROJECT_PATH environment variable.
gitlab_api_token: Sets the GitLab API token using the GIT_COMMIT_TOKEN environment variable.
repo_root: Sets the repository root directory using the CI_PROJECT_DIR environment variable.
gitlab_job_number: Sets the GitLab job number using the CI_JOB_ID environment variable.
gitlab_job_url: Sets the GitLab job URL using the CI_JOB_URL environment variable.
Conditional: Executes the task only if the CI environment variable is present.
Tags: None

Task: Gitlab include repository config file

Name: Gitlab include repository config file
Description: Includes the repository config file if running in a GitLab CI environment.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_vars
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the repository config file (.nfc_automation.yaml) in the repo root directory.
Conditional: Executes the task only if the CI environment variable is present.
Tags: None

Task: Gitlab CI config Expansion to cover required variables

Name: Gitlab CI config Expansion to cover required variables
Description: Sets facts related to GitLab CI config variables to cover required variables for subsequent tasks.
Module: ansible.builtin.set_fact
Arguments:
temp_repo_creation_directory: Sets the temporary repository creation directory using the repo_root variable.
default_branch: Sets the default branch using the role_git_conf.gitlab.default_branch variable. If not defined, the value is omitted.
merge_request_labels: Sets the merge request labels using the role_git_conf.gitlab.merge_request.patch_labels variable. If not defined, the value is omitted.
Conditional: Executes the task only if the CI environment variable is present.
Tags: None

Task: Fetch Gitlab issues with patch

Name: Fetch Gitlab issues with patch
Description: Includes the gitlab/issue_patches.yaml task file to fetch GitLab issues with patches.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the gitlab/issue_patches.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: Always executed.
Tags: Always

Task: Debug Gitlab issue patch files

Name: Debug Gitlab issue patch files
Description: Prints the gitlab_issue_patch_files variable for debugging purposes.
Module: ansible.builtin.debug
Arguments:
msg: Specifies the message to be printed, which includes the value of the gitlab_issue_patch_files variable.
Conditional: None
Tags: None

Task: Local Repository Setup default branch

Name: Local Repository Setup default branch - {{ default_branch }}
Description: Includes the git/repository.yaml task file to set up the local repository for the default branch.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the git/repository.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: Executes the task only if gitlab_issue_patch_files variable is not empty.
Tags: Always

Task: Download All Patches, {{ gitlab_issue_patch_files | length }} Found

Name: Download All Patches, {{ gitlab_issue_patch_files | length }} Found
Description: Includes the git/patch.yaml task file to download all the patches found.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the git/patch.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: Executes the task only if gitlab_issue_patch_files variable is not empty and the author's project membership level is greater than or equal to patch_file_minimum_access_level.
Tags: Always

Task: Create the patch branch - {{ task_item.branch_name }}

Name: Create the patch branch - {{ task_item.branch_name }}
Description: Includes the git/repository.yaml task file to create the patch branch.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the git/repository.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: Executes the task only if gitlab_issue_patch_files variable is not empty and the author's project membership level is greater than or equal to patch_file_minimum_access_level.
Tags: Always

Task: Push the patch branch - {{ task_item.branch_name }}

Name: Push the patch branch - {{ task_item.branch_name }}
Description: Includes the git/repository.yaml task file to push the patch branch.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the git/repository.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: Executes the task only if gitlab_issue_patch_files variable is not empty and the author's project membership level is greater than or equal to patch_file_minimum_access_level.
Tags: Always

Task: Create the Merge Requests

Name: Create the Merge Requests
Description: Includes the gitlab/merge_request.yaml task file to create merge requests.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the gitlab/merge_request.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: Executes the task only if gitlab_issue_patch_files variable is not empty and the author's project membership level is greater than or equal to patch_file_minimum_access_level.
Tags: Always

Task: Filter patch files

Name: Filter patch files
Description: Executes a shell command to filter patch files based on certain conditions.
Module: ansible.builtin.shell
Arguments:
cmd: Specifies the shell command to execute.
executable: Specifies the shell executable to use.
Registered Variable: gitlab_issue_patch_files_add_mr
Conditional: None
Tags: None

Task: Apply Patches Found

Name: Apply Patches Found
Description: Includes the git/patch.yaml task file to apply the patches found.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the git/patch.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: None
Tags: git_patch_download

Task: Push the changes to the patch branch - {{ task_item.branch_name }}

Name: Push the changes to the patch branch - {{ task_item.branch_name }}
Description: Includes the git/repository.yaml task file to push the changes to the patch branch.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the git/repository.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: None
Tags: Always

Task: Reply to patch thread

Name: Reply to patch thread
Description: Includes the gitlab/notes.yaml task file to reply to the patch thread.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the gitlab/notes.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: None
Tags: Always

Task: Remove the patch from the users comment so it doesn't get picked up anymore

Name: Remove the patch from the users comment so it doesn't get picked up anymore
Description: Includes the gitlab/notes.yaml task file to remove the patch from the user's comment.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the gitlab/notes.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: None
Tags: Always

Task: Telemetry fact

Name: Telemetry fact
Description: Sets the task_finish_epoch fact using the ansible.builtin.set_fact module.
Module: ansible.builtin.set_fact
Arguments:
task_finish_epoch: Specifies the value to set for the fact.
Conditional: None
Tags: None

Task: Final Telemetry facts

Name: Final Telemetry facts
Description: Sets the task_duration_ansible fact using the ansible.builtin.set_fact module.
Module: ansible.builtin.set_fact
Arguments:
task_duration_ansible: Specifies the value to set for the fact.
Conditional: Executes the task only if gitlab_issue_patch_files variable is not empty and the length of gitlab_issue_patch_files is greater than 1.
Tags: None

Task: Comment on Merge Request

Name: Comment on Merge Request
Description: Includes the gitlab/notes.yaml task file to comment on the merge request.
Module: ansible.builtin.include_tasks
Arguments:
file: Specifies the path to the gitlab/notes.yaml task file.
apply.tags: Specifies the tags to apply to the included tasks.
Conditional: None
Tags: Always

Automation Variables

The task expects the following variables to be defined:

gitlab_api_token: The GitLab API token used for authentication.
project_path: The Gitlab project path to run this task on

When running this task as a Gitlab job, the config file .nfc_automation.yaml is required. it's layout can be found in the Gitlab config documentation.

When this automation is run from within the Gitlab CD/CI environment the following variables are used and automagically gathered from the environmental variables. most are self explanatory, with CI (boolean) being used as the variable to detect the Gitlab CD/CI environment:

CI_PROJECT_PATH
GIT_COMMIT_TOKEN
CI_PROJECT_DIR
CI_JOB_ID
CI_JOB_URL
CI

Usage

To use this automation, follow these steps:

Make sure you have the necessary dependencies and Ansible installed on your system.
Update the gitlab_api_token variable in your playbook or inventory file with the appropriate value for your GitLab API token.
Ensure that the gitlab_apply_issue_patch.yaml playbook is available in the same directory or path specified.
Include this task file in your Ansible playbook or role by using the include_tasks module with the appropriate file path.
Run your playbook, and the task will create merge requests based on the patches found in the GitLab issue comments.

Example Playbook:

- name: Example Playbook
  hosts: servers
  tasks:
    - name: Include Create Merge Requests task file
      include_tasks: gitlab_apply_issue_patch.yaml.yaml
      vars:
         gitlab_api_token: The GitLab API token used for authentication. 
         project_path: the gitlab project path

Example Role:

- name: Example Role
  hosts: servers
  roles:
    - role: my_role
      tasks_from: gitlab_apply_issue_patch.yaml.yaml
         gitlab_api_token: The GitLab API token used for authentication. 
         project_path: the gitlab project path

About:

This page forms part of our Project Git Configuration.

Page Metadata

Version: ToDo: place files short git commit here
Date Created: 2023-06-18
Date Edited: 2023-12-11

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