File template repository

Templates are important for easily getting started with a project. It's a shame that people can't create their own templates that suit the needs of their own teams.

We should just have a repository per instance / group with templates, from which we load them. This way they can be managed, changed and reviewed easily.

Proposal

• Templates are managed in a repository
• It should be transparent to the end user: the user does not have to know that templates are managed by git.

Specification of the templates project:

• The templates project is at the instance level, and/or the group level.
• Template project at the group level will override template project defined at the instance level.
• All LICENSE templates, for instance, will be located in a LICENSE folder inside this project.
• Extensions we'll read when populating dropdowns are
  • files with no extension
  • .gitignore
  • .yml
  • .md
  • .txt

List of the template folders we'll support for instances and groups

• .gitlab-ci.yml
• .gitignore
• LICENSE
• Dockerfile

Possible future improvements:

• Interface to manage templates
• Description templates for issues and merge requests https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/6886
• Custom file templates https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/26199
  • /README
  • /contribution-guide
  • /services

Links / references