I built an solution for this, sharing it here.
The following tools were used for this:
- GitLab release api
- Python-GitLab api
- Docker
- Microsoft Teams
- Sharepoint
The process flow can be outlined as follows:
- A new pipeline is triggered
- After successful build, codescan and publish, a release job is run
- The release job uses a python script written with the help of
python-gitlab api to create a release using gitlab release api. It
inserts external artifactory links for downloading artifacts under
release assets and adds links to release note and other documents.
- GitLab sends a release mail to the appropriate notification channel,
a group email id created by Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint, so that
the entire team receives the release mail.
The python script is given below:
import os
import gitlab
from datetime import datetime
if __name__ == '__main__':
access_token = os.environ['RELEASE_TOKEN']
gitlab_url = os.environ['GITLAB_URL']
project_id = int(os.environ['CI_PROJECT_ID'])
tag_name = os.environ['CI_PIPELINE_ID']
ref = os.environ['CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME']
# artifactory_links
artifactory_link = os.environ['ARTIFACTORY_PATH']
group_name = os.environ['GROUP_NAME']
project_name = os.environ['CI_PROJECT_NAME']
directory = f'{datetime.now():%Y%m%d}'
artifact_name = os.environ['ARTIFACT_NAME']
package_type = os.environ['PACKAGE_TYPE']
# artifacts_links
artifacts_links = f'{artifactory_link}/{group_name}/{project_name}/{directory}/{artifact_name}-{tag_name}.{package_type}'
# release note
release_note = os.environ['RELEASE_NOTE']
# authenticate with gitlab
gl = gitlab.Gitlab(gitlab_url, private_token=access_token)
gl.auth()
# obtain the project object by id
project = gl.projects.get(project_id)
# creating the project tags
project.tags.create({'tag_name': tag_name, 'ref': ref})
# creating the project releases
release = project.releases.create(
{
'name': f'Release for Pipeline ID {ref}',
'tag_name': tag_name,
'description': release_note,
'assets': {
'links': [{'name': artifact_name, 'url': artifacts_links}],
}
}
)
The script requires the following environment variables:
- RELEASE_TOKEN – GitLab access token
- GITLAB_URL – GitLab base URL.
- ARTIFACTORY_PATH – Artifactory base URL.
- GROUP_NAME – In case the project is under a group.
- ARTIFACT_NAME – The artifact name
- PACKAGE_TYPE – Artifact package type
- RELEASE_NOTE – Link to release note and any other document.
These variables can be provided as GitLab CI variables. If there are more than one artifacts, the python script can be modified accordingly.
Since the python script needs to be called during the pipeline event and adding the script in the project would be modifying the project codebase, dockerizing the script is the best solution. That way, it can be pulled directly from docker hub. The dockerfile contents for this are as follows:
FROM python:3.7-alpine
COPY release_api.py /bin
RUN pip install python-gitlab
ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/release_api.py"]
CMD ["/bin/bash"]
In order to send a release mail to every member of the team, irrespective of their individual GitLab notification and subscription preferences, a team needs to be set up using Microsoft Teams. When a team is created in Teams application, a corresponding sharepoint site is created, along with a team email id. This set up takes some time.
Once a team is created, under Files section, there’s an option to open it in sharepoint (screenshot below).
The sharepoint site has a link in the left sidebar called Conversations. Once the sharepoint site is fully ready, clicking this link will open the inbox of the Teams email.
Under the settings for the group, the option Edit Group can be found and there the group email id can be found. This group email id will be used to send the release mail to everyone in the team.
Under user settings of GitLab, the group email needs to be added. Once the mail is added and verified, the notification channel can be set up under Notifications. Once this is done, all notifications for that group (or project) will go to the group mail, and everyone in the team will get them. The last activity left is to set up notification preference to send a notification when a new release is available.
