
Gitlab 12.6 - bjoko
https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2019/12/22/gitlab-12-6-released/
======
clon
I am thankful for this release. It finally fixed two major issues that had
plagued Gitlab for us for a long time:

\- The "Rebase" button now actually seems to work reliably with no cases of
endless spinning to report in the few tens of button presses so far for me (we
merge fast-forward only). Hoping this is not a fluke and will not regress in
the future.

\- The "Hide whitespace changes" button works again after breaking what feels
like some time in 2018.

These 2 sound like really basic functionality, so it also represents the sad
state of Gitlab development - a priority on useless fluff on top of
regressions in each release, while hundreds of bugs that actually affect users
go unaddressed.

This is a good release.

Edit: Their issue tracker [1] actually lists 37.8k issues with 23.9k "open",
which represents 63% of all issues ever created. As a project matures and
ages, you would expect this metric to start to go down naturally, as you
"plateau" on a sustainable level of open issues. If this were my project, I
would be freaking out.

[1] [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-
org/gitlab/issues)

~~~
orf
Not all of those issues are bugs though. Only 4,000 are labeled as bugs, with
many more being labeled as improvements or product direction discussions.

Gitlab’s development runs through those issues, so there are a _lot_ that are
related to that.

~~~
sytse
Correct. A lot of the issues are feature requests.

------
majkinetor
Unfortunatelly there is still no way to run CI file locally which is major
turn down. Deprecated `exec` command is hell to use.

I should be able to install runner on developers machine and just run and
debug pipeline there, with or without Gitlab server present.

~~~
DogLover_

      Deprecated `exec` command is hell to use
    

Curious what makes it hell to use?

    
    
      Unfortunatelly there is still no way to run CI file locally which is major turn down
    

I don't think thats correct. As you mention there is `exec`. Do you know of
better alternatives?

~~~
majkinetor
One example that comes to mind is codefresh.io. It allows local run of the
pipeline (and even debug via breakpoints) and only requires docker to be
installed locally.

I currently use task system with Gitlab to make any job in 1-3 lines. Then I
can easily replicate build locally. The task engine is either installed on
runner's host itself or run inside docker container.

~~~
jl-gitlab
We are looking to add breakpoints in an upcoming release, building on our
interactive web terminals feature. If you're interested in providing feedback
the public issue is [https://gitlab.com/gitlab-
org/gitlab/issues/39527](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/39527).

------
robbya
> Streamline Audits with Release Evidence

I've seen companies with overly painful audit requirements, and making the
process of generating artifacts for audit as easy as possible is a great way
forward. Box ticking exercises should take minimal engineering time.

My current project doesn't use gitlab, but I love the constant innovation
Gitlab pushes out.

~~~
jl-gitlab
Thanks, that's really great to hear. Release evidence, and where we plan to
take that feature long term
([https://about.gitlab.com/direction/release/release_governanc...](https://about.gitlab.com/direction/release/release_governance/))
is really exciting to me, having spent a lot of my career in release
management. Would be great to get your feedback on where we are headed - even
if you aren't a GitLab user today, may you will be in the future.

------
mroche
Interesting addition of Conan support right into GitLab.

> For any development organization, having an easy and secure way to manage
> dependencies is critical. Package management tools, such as Conan for C/C++
> developers, provide a standardized way to share and version control these
> libraries across projects.

> In GitLab 12.6, we are proud to offer Conan repositories built directly into
> GitLab. Developers can now publish their packaged libraries to their
> project’s Conan repository. Simply set the Conan remote to the GitLab
> Package Registry and start uploading, installing, and deleting packages
> today.

~~~
rumanator
Yes, that's very odd as it would be relatively trivial to extend packaging
support to handle DEB or RPM packages, for example.

~~~
jl-gitlab
We are looking at adding many new kinds of packages, including potentially
Linux package types such as
these[https://about.gitlab.com/direction/package/package_registry/...](https://about.gitlab.com/direction/package/package_registry/#linux-
packages)

------
Dolores12
Any update on telemetry? Looks like nothing in release notes.

