diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/tutorials/protected_workflow/index.md')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/tutorials/protected_workflow/index.md | 290 |
1 files changed, 290 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/tutorials/protected_workflow/index.md b/doc/tutorials/protected_workflow/index.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..5245bdc5ba9 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/tutorials/protected_workflow/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,290 @@ +--- +stage: Create +group: Code Review +info: "To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments" +--- + +<!-- vale gitlab.FutureTense = NO --> + +# Tutorial: Build a protected workflow for your project **(FREE)** + +When your team starts a new project, they need a workflow that balances efficiency +with appropriate reviews. In GitLab, you can create user groups, combine those +groups with branch protections, and then enforce those protections with approval rules. + +This tutorial sets up protections for Excelsior Project's `1.x` and `1.x.x` +release branches, and creates a minimal approval workflow for the project: + +1. [Create the `engineering` group](#create-the-engineering-group) +1. [Create subgroups in `engineering`](#create-subgroups-in-engineering) +1. [Add users to the subgroups](#add-users-to-the-subgroups) +1. [Create the Excelsior project](#create-the-excelsior-project) +1. [Add a basic CODEOWNERS file](#add-a-basic-codeowners-file) +1. [Configure approval rules](#configure-approval-rules) +1. [Enforce CODEOWNER approval on branches](#enforce-codeowner-approval-on-branches) +1. [Create the release branches](#create-the-release-branches) + +## Prerequisites + +- You must have the Maintainer or Owner role. +- You need a list of managers and their email addresses. +- You need a list of your backend and frontend engineers, and their email addresses. +- You understand [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/) for branch names. + +## Create the `engineering` group + +Before setting up Excelsior Project, you should create a group to own +the project. Here, you'll set up the Engineering group: + +1. On the left sidebar, at the top, select **Create new...** (**{plus}**) and **New group**. +1. Select **Create group**. +1. For **Group name**, enter `Engineering`. +1. For the **Group URL**, enter `engineering`. +1. Set the **Visibility level** to **Private**. +1. Personalize your experience so GitLab shows the most helpful information to you: + - For **Role**, select **System administrator**. + - For **Who will be using this group?** select **My company or team**. + - For **What will you use this group for?** select **I want to store my code**. +1. Skip inviting members to the group. You'll add users in a later section of this tutorial. +1. Select **Create group**. + +Next, you'll add subgroups to this `engineering` group for more granular control. + +## Create subgroups in `engineering` + +The `engineering` group is a good start, but Excelsior Project's +backend engineers, frontend engineers, and managers +have different tasks, and different areas of specialty. + +Here, you'll create three more granular subgroups in the Engineering group to +segment users by the type of work they do: `managers`, `frontend`, and `backend`. +Then you'll add these new groups as members of the `engineering` group. + +First, create the new subgroup: + +1. On the left sidebar, at the top, select **Search GitLab** (**{search}**) + and search for `engineering`. Select the group named `Engineering`: + + ![The engineering group in search results](img/search_engineering_v16_2.png) + +1. On the overview page for the `engineering` group, in the upper-right corner, + select **New subgroup**. +1. For the **Subgroup name**, enter `Managers`. +1. Set the **Visibility level** to **Private**. +1. Select **Create subgroup**. + +Next, add the subgroup as a member of the `engineering` group: + +1. On the left sidebar, at the top, select **Search GitLab** (**{search}**) + and search for `engineering`. Select the group named `Engineering`. +1. On the left sidebar, select **Manage > Members**. +1. On the top right, select **Invite a group**. +1. For **Select a group to invite**, select `Engineering / Managers`. +1. When adding the subgroups select the role **Maintainer**. + This configures the highest role a member of the subgroup can inherit when accessing the `engineering` group and its projects. +1. Optional. Select an expiration date. +1. Select **Invite**. + +Repeat this process to create subgroups for `backend` and `frontend`. When you're done, +search for the `engineering` group one more time. Its overview page should show +three subgroups, like this: + +![The engineering group has three subgroups](img/subgroup_structure_v16_1.png) + +## Add users to the subgroups + +In the previous step, when you added your subgroups to the parent group (`engineering`), you limited +members of the subgroups to the Maintainer role. This is the highest role they can inherit +for projects owned by `engineering`. As a result: + +- User 1 is added to the `manager` subgroup with the Guest role, and receives + the Guest role on `engineering` projects. +- User 2 is added to the `manager` group with the Owner role. This role is higher + than the maximum role (Maintainer) you set, so User 2 receives the Maintainer + role instead of Owner. + +To add a user to the `frontend` subgroup: + +1. On the left sidebar, at the top, select **Search GitLab** (**{search}**) + and search for `frontend`. Select the `Frontend` group. +1. Select **Manage > Members**. +1. Select **Invite members**. +1. Fill in the fields. Select the **Developer** role by default, increasing it + to **Maintainer** if this user reviews the work of others. +1. Select **Invite**. +1. Repeat these steps until you've added all of the frontend engineers into the + `frontend` subgroup. + +Now do the same with the `backend` and `managers` groups. The same user can be a +member of multiple subgroups. + +## Create the Excelsior project + +Now that your group structure is in place, create the `excelsior` project +for the teams to work in. Because both frontend and backend engineers +are involved, `excelsior` should belong to `engineering` instead of any of the +smaller subgroups you just created. + +To create the new `excelsior` project: + +1. On the left sidebar, at the top, select **Search GitLab** (**{search}**) and + search for `engineering`. Select the group named `Engineering`. +1. On the overview page for the `engineering` group, on the left sidebar, at the top, + select **Create new...** (**{plus}**) and **In this group > New project/repository**. +1. Select **Create blank project**. +1. Enter the project details: + - In the **Project name** field, enter `Excelsior`. The **Project slug** should + auto-populate with `excelsior`. + - For **Visibility Level**, select **Public**. + - Select **Initialize repository with a README** to add an initial file to the repository. +1. Select **Create project**. + +GitLab creates the `excelsior` project for you, and redirects you to its homepage. +It should look like this: + +![Your new, almost-empty excelsior project](img/new_project_v16_2.png) + +You'll use a feature on this page in the next step. + +## Add a basic CODEOWNERS file + +Add a CODEOWNERS file to the root directory of your project to route reviews to +the right subgroup. This example sets up four rules: + +- All changes should be reviewed by someone in the `engineering` group. +- A manager should review any change to the CODEOWNERS file itself. +- Frontend engineers should review changes to frontend files. +- Backend engineers should review changes to backend files. + +NOTE: +GitLab Free supports only optional reviews. To make reviews required, you need +GitLab Premium or Ultimate. + +To add a CODEOWNERS file to your `excelsior` project: + +1. On the left sidebar, at the top, select **Search GitLab** (**{search}**) and + search for `Excelsior`. Select the project named `Excelsior`. +1. Next to the branch name, select the plus icon (**{plus}**), then **New file**: + ![Create a new file in the project](img/new_file_v16_2.png) +1. For **Filename**, enter `CODEOWNERS`. This will create a file named `CODEOWNERS` + in the root directory of your project. +1. Paste this example into the editing area, changing `@engineering/` if it + does not match your group structure: + + ```plaintext + # All changes should be reviewed by someone in the engineering group + * @engineering + + # A manager should review any changes to this file + CODEOWNERS @engineering/managers + + # Frontend files should be reviewed by FE engineers + [Frontend] @engineering/frontend + *.scss + *.js + + # Backend files should be reviewed by BE engineers + [Backend] @engineering/backend + *.rb + ``` + +1. For a **Commit message**, paste in: + + ```plaintext + Adds a new CODEOWNERS file + + Creates a small CODEOWNERS file to: + - Route backend and frontend changes to the right teams + - Route CODEOWNERS file changes to managers + - Request all changes be reviewed + ``` + +1. Select **Commit changes**. + +The CODEOWNERS file is now in place in the `main` branch of your project, and +available for all future branches created in this project. + +## Configure approval rules + +The CODEOWNERS file describes the appropriate reviewers for directories and +file types. Approval rules direct merge requests to those reviewers. +Here, you will set up an approval rule that uses the information in your new CODEOWNERS +file and adds protection for release branches: + +1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > Merge requests**. +1. In the **Merge request approvals** section, scroll to **Approval rules**. +1. Select **Add approval rule**. +1. Create a rule named `Enforce CODEOWNERS`. +1. Select **All protected branches**. +1. To make the rule required in GitLab Premium and GitLab Ultimate, + set the **Approvals required** to `1`. +1. Add the `managers` group as approvers. +1. Select **Add approval rule**. +1. Scroll to **Approval settings** and make sure + **Prevent editing approval rules in merge requests** is selected. +1. Select **Save changes**. + +When added, the `Enforce CODEOWNERS` rule looks like this: + +![New approval rule in place](img/approval_rules_v16_2.png) + +## Enforce CODEOWNER approval on branches + +You've configured several protections for your project, and you're now ready to +combine those protections together to safeguard your project's important branches: + +- Your users are sorted into logical groups and subgroups. +- Your CODEOWNERS file describes the subject matter experts for file types and directories. +- Your approval rule encourages (in GitLab Free) or requires (in GitLab Premium and GitLab Ultimate) + the subject matter experts to review changes. + +Your `excelsior` project uses [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/) for +release branch names, so you know the release branches follow the pattern `1.x` +and `1.x.x`. You want all code added to these branches to be reviewed by subject +matter experts, and for managers to make the final decision on what work is merged +into the release branch. + +Rather than create protections for a branch at a time, configure wildcard branch rules +to protect multiple branches: + +1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > Repository**. +1. Expand **Protected branches**. +1. From the **Branch** dropdown list, type `1.*`, and then select **Create wildcard `1.*`**. +1. To require everyone to submit merge requests, rather than pushing commits directly: + 1. Set **Allowed to merge** to **Maintainers**. + 1. Set **Allowed to push and merge** to **No one**. + 1. Leave **Allowed to force push** disabled. +1. In GitLab Premium and GitLab Ultimate, to require Code Owners to review changes + to files they work on, toggle **Require approval from code owners**. +1. Select **Protect**. +1. In the table of branches, find the rule marked as `Default`. (Depending on + your version of GitLab, this branch may be named `main` or `master`.) Set the + values for this branch to match the settings you used for the `1.*` rule. + +Your rules are now in place, even though no `1.*` branches exist yet: + +![main and 1.x are now protected](img/branch_list_v16_1.png) + +## Create the release branches + +Now that all branch protections in place, you're ready to create your 1.0.0 release branch: + +1. On the left sidebar, select **Code > Branches**. +1. On the top right, select **New branch**. Name it `1.0.0`. +1. Select **Create branch**. + +The branch protections are now visible in the UI: + +- On the left sidebar, select **Code > Branches**. In the list of branches, + branch `1.0.0` should be show that it is protected: + + ![List of branches, showing 1.0.0 is protected](img/branch_is_protected_v16_2.png) + +- On the left sidebar, select **Settings > Repository**, then expand **Branch rules** + to see details about all protected branches: + + ![List of protected branches and their protections](img/protections_in_place_v16_2.png) + +Congratulations! Your engineers can work independently in their feature branches, +and all code submitted for consideration for the 1.0.0 release branch will +be reviewed by subject matter experts. |