Chapter 4. Customizing GitLab pipelines and rebuilding container images

Procedure

1. Create a directory for the build resources. The location of the directory depends on your role:

   • Platform engineer: If you are rebuilding the image to update the default pipeline for your organization, you can create the directory within the location where you forked the tssc-sample-templates repository. For example, rebuild-image.

   • Developers: If you are rebuilding the image for your own use or a specific project, create a directory in a location outside the organization-wide fork of tssc-sample-templates to avoid conflicts.

     $ mkdir rebuild-image

     Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

2. Run the following command and copy the container image URL:

   $ less ../tssc-sample-templates/skeleton/ci/source-repo/gitlabci/.gitlab-ci.yml

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

   image: quay.io/redhat-tssc/task-runner/

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

3. Copy the existing pipeline content locally by running the following command:

   $ podman run -v $(pwd):/pwd:z <The_url_you_copied_in_step_2> cp -r /work/tssc /pwd

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

   This command starts the container by using the <the_url_you_copied_in_step_2> image. It then copies the pipeline files from /work/tssc inside the container to your working directory ($(pwd)). Additionally, if you are not on a system with SELinux enabled (for example, Fedora, RHEL, or CentOS), remove the :z option in the command to ensure compatibility.

4. Navigate to the rhtap directory and customize the pipelines tasks as required.

5. Create a Dockerfile in the rebuild-image directory and add the following content to include your changes in the container. Additionally, the base image quay.io/redhat-tssc/task-runner:1.8 is built on ubi/ubi-minimal, which provides a lightweight Universal Base Image (UBI). If you need to install additional software and dependencies, use microdnf. For example, example command:

   FROM quay.io/redhat-tssc/task-runner:1.8
   
   COPY ./tssc /work/tssc
   
   RUN microdnf -y install make

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

   FROM

   Uses the existing rhtap-runner container as the starting point.

   COPY

   Copies the updated pipeline tasks from the local rhtap folder into the /work/tssc directory inside the container.

   RUN

   Demonstrates the use of the microdnf to install additional software or dependencies.

6. Build the new container image by running the following command:

   $ podman build -f Dockerfile -t quay.io/<namespace>/<new_image_name> 

   1

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

   The -f Dockerfile option specifies the Dockerfile to use to build the container image. The -f option allows you to explicitly point to the Dockerfile if it’s not named Dockerfile or is located in a different directory. The -t quay.io/<namespace>/<new_image_name> option assigns a tag (name) to the container image for easy identification.

7. Login to Quay.io by running the following command:

   $ podman login quay.io

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

8. Push the updated image by running the following command:

   $ podman push quay.io/<namespace>/<new_image_name>

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

   This uploads the customized container image to Quay.io, making it available for use in GitLab pipelines.

9. Platform engineer only: Navigate to the .gitlab-ci.yml in the tssc-sample-templates > skeleton > ci > source-repo > gitlabci > directory and replace the container image URL with the one you just created. This makes the new container image the default.

   image: quay.io/<namespace>/<new_image_name>

   Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

10. For developers only: To update the container image just for a single repository in GitLab, navigate to the source repository > .gitlab-ci.yaml and replace the container image URL with the one you just created.

    image: quay.io/<namespace>/<new_image_name>

    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
11. Commit and push the changes to apply the updated pipeline configuration.