Added cache:key to .gitlab-ci.yml allowing to fine tune the caching

1 files changed, 56 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/doc/ci/yaml/README.md b/doc/ci/yaml/README.md
index fd0d49de4e4..3b594df659d 100644
--- a/doc/ci/yaml/README.md
+++ b/doc/ci/yaml/README.md
@@ -135,10 +135,9 @@ thus allowing to fine tune them.
 ### cache
 
 `cache` is used to specify a list of files and directories which should be
-cached between builds. Caches are stored according to the branch/ref and the
-job name. They are not currently shared between different job names or between
-branches/refs, which means that caching will benefit you if you push subsequent
-commits to an existing feature branch.
+cached between builds.
+
+**By default the caching is enabled per-job and per-branch.**
 
 If `cache` is defined outside the scope of the jobs, it means it is set
 globally and all jobs will use its definition.
@@ -152,6 +151,59 @@ cache:
   - binaries/
 ```
 
+#### cache:key
+
+_**Note:** Introduced in GitLab Runner v1.0.0._
+
+The `key` directive allows you to define the affinity of caching
+between jobs, allowing to have a single cache for all jobs,
+cache per-job, cache per-branch or any other way you deem proper.
+
+This allows you to fine tune caching, allowing you to cache data between different jobs or even different branches.
+The `cache:key` variable can use any of the [predefined variables](../variables/README.md):
+
+Example configurations:
+
+To enable per-job caching:
+
+    ```yaml
+    cache:
+      key: "$CI_BUILD_NAME"
+      untracked: true
+    ```
+
+To enable per-branch caching:
+
+    ```yaml
+    cache:
+      key: "$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
+      untracked: true
+    ```
+
+To enable per-job and per-branch caching:
+
+    ```yaml
+    cache:
+      key: "$CI_BUILD_NAME/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
+      untracked: true
+    ```
+
+To enable per-branch and per-stage caching:
+
+    ```yaml
+    cache:
+      key: "$CI_BUILD_STAGE/$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
+      untracked: true
+    ```
+
+If you use **Windows Batch** to run your shell scripts you need to replace the `$` with `%`:
+
+    ```yaml
+    cache:
+      key: "%CI_BUILD_STAGE%/%CI_BUILD_REF_NAME%"
+      untracked: true
+    ```
+
 ## Jobs
 
 `.gitlab-ci.yml` allows you to specify an unlimited number of jobs. Each job