gitlab runner doesn`t work on a specific project

23
votes

I registered 11 projects of GitLab runner. Runners of each project work fine except 1 project. First time I registered runner of this project, it works. But after I commit/push some changes, an error occurs and failed job. I saw some solutions that upgrading the git version solved a problem, but I don't think so. Because all of the runners work fine except this project.

Server OS: CentOS 7
git: 1.8.3.1

First time registered runner
>Running with gitlab-runner 11.9.2 (...)
  on (...)
Using Shell executor...
Running on localhost.localdomain...
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/gitlab-runner/(...)/.git/
Clean repository
Fetching changes with git depth set to 50...
Created fresh repository.
From https://gitlab.com/(...)
 * [new branch]      master     -> origin/master
Checking out (...) as master...
Skipping Git submodules setup
$ echo "> gitlab-ci started"
> gitlab-ci started
$ cd /home/(..)
$ echo "> git pull started"
> git pull started
$ git pull
remote: Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Already up-to-date.
Job succeeded

Second commit/pull, then

>Running with gitlab-runner 11.9.2 (...)
  on (...)
Using Shell executor...
Running on localhost.localdomain...
Reinitialized existing Git repository in /home/gitlab-runner/(...)/.git/
Clean repository
Fetching changes with git depth set to 50...
fatal: remote origin already exists.
fatal: git fetch-pack: expected shallow list
ERROR: Job failed: exit status 1

edit. here is my .gitlab-ci.yml

stages:
- deploy

deploy_to_master:
  stage: deploy

  script:
  - echo "> gitlab-ci started"
  - cd /home/www/dir
  - echo "> git pull started"
  - git pull
  - echo "> permission set"
  - chmod 707 -R ./data/
  - chmod 707 -R ./plugin/nice/
  - chmod 707 ./favicon.ico
  - echo "> server reload(=httpd -k graceful)"
  - systemctl reload httpd

  only:
  - master

  tags:
  - tags
6
gitlab-cigitlab-ci-runner
Can you share the .gitlab-ci.yml content? – Glen Thomas
@Gien Thomas I added my .gitlab-ci.yml. nothing special. just connect & pull. – Sungmin Park
Hi , gitlab runner will run /home/gitlab-runner/. But in the gitlab.ci.yml file you tried to pull the code in /home/www/dir. – Manuja Jayawardana
try going in to gitlab-runner source folder and running the git pull in there. so then you can have a clear idea. please let me know whats the result. – Manuja Jayawardana
I tried pulling in gitlab-runner directory.(/home/gitlab-runner/builds/(token)/0/user/dir) but it worked same as before. Error occurs before run script part in .gitlab-ci.yml. – Sungmin Park

6 Answers

33
votes

Centos 7 ships with git version 1.8.3.1 . This version doesn't support commands like git fetch-pack . To fix this problem, you could update git on your server from the IUS repository. update git on Centos 7 to version 2 from third-party IUS repo

$ git --version
git version 1.8.3.1

sudo yum -y install https://packages.endpoint.com/rhel/7/os/x86_64/endpoint-repo-1.7-1.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum install git
41
votes

There are a few options to fix this. The problem is the version of git on your runner is too old. And sometimes you can't update git on the runner.

Options to fix:

  1. Upgrade to a newer version of git on the runner.

  2. In .gitlab-ci.yml, use the option to git clone: 

variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: clone

  1. Configure Gitlab, change Git strategy for pipelines of the project to "git clone".

    3.1. In the Gitlab web gui,

    3.2. go to your project,

    3.3. then: "Settings -> CI / CD -> General pipelines".

    3.4. Change the options for:

    • "Git strategy for pipelines" to: "git clone"
    • "Git shallow clone" to: 0
3
votes

You can go around this problem without upgrading git at all:

1. Clone Strategy

Set in .gitlab-ci.yml: 

variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: clone

Now every change you make will trigger re-cloning the project, avoiding the need of the problematic git fetch-pack command.

2. Manually Remove Project Directory (not recommended)

Remove manually the build directory from gitlab-runner server, so it will have to clone it again.
For project testgroup/testproject, run:
careful with rm commands!

rm -rf /home/gitlab-runner/builds/UwnzuxxL/0/testgroup/testproject

Notice that after builds directory you have a random string that will be different from this example.

2
votes

Check value in your project's CI/CD settings on gitlab.com. If there is any value in 'git shallow clone' remove it and save changes. Now your pipeline will work as expected. see image

1
votes

I had a similar issue, and I had to update Git. Centos 7 comes with git-1.8.x which has limitations around gitlab-ci.

Upgrade your git, based on this guide.

0
votes

I made a new project and, finally, it works fine. I don't know why the other one didn't work. If the same problems occurs like mine, don't get too serious: Just make a new gitlab project. It is good for your mental well-being.