GitLab 11.11, recently released, brings multiple assignees for merge requests, Windows container executor for GitLab Runners, guest access to releases, instance-level Kubernetes cluster, and more.
Multiple assignees for merge requests helps in a common scenario where two or more engineers are working in a shared branch, such as a collaboration of backend and frontend engineers, or even in teams where engineers work in pairs, like XP. To assign multiple assignees to a merge request, expand the right sidebar and locate the Assignees section, click on Edit and then select as many users you want to assign the merge request.
(Image taken from https://docs.gitlab.com/)
GitLab 11.11 now supports Windows container executor for GitLab Runners, which means that it is now possible to use Docker containers on Windows. Previously, the focus of the Docker executor has been almost entirely on Linux based systems, and users were not able to use Docker on Windows directly, they should use the shell executor to orchestrate Docker commands.
(Image taken from https://about.gitlab.com/)
GitLab Runner is the open source project that is used in conjunction with GitLab CI to run jobs and send results back to GitLab; the executors currently supported are SSH, Shell, Parallels, VirtualBox, Docker, and Kubernetes.
Although the ability to use Docker containers on Windows is useful, only Windows Server 1809 and 1803 are supported by GitLab Runner, and there are some limitations such as no support for interactive web terminals, and services do not fully work.
It is important to note that Windows runners can be used with GitLab.com, but are not currently available as part of the shared public fleet.
Instance-level Kubernetes clusters, currently in beta, enable users of self-managed GitLab instances to connect a Kubernetes cluster to the GitLab instance, which allows the usage of the same cluster across multiple projects. GitLab will try to match to clusters in the following order: project-level clusters, group-level clusters, and instance level.
Another interesting feature in GitLab 11.11 is that now guest users can access releases published on the releases page. Guest users will be able to download published artifacts, but will not be allowed to download the source code or access the repository info such as tags and commits.
(Image taken from https://about.gitlab.com/)
Deployment notifications can now be automatically shared in a team's channel through the Slack and Mattermost chat integrations; this feature aims to bring visibility regarding deployment activities.
(Image taken from https://about.gitlab.com/)
Other interesting features included within GitLab 11.11 are:
- Users can now download archives of directories within a repository, which is pretty useful in large monorepos; in the past users had to download an archive of the entire project
- Applying a suggestion now automatically resolves the discussion; users are not required to copy/paste to accept a suggested change
- API endpoint for vulnerability information; users can now query the GitLab API to return all of the vulnerabilities identified in a project
More details about GitLab 11.11 and the complete list of changes are available on the announcement page.
