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Empty variables are not consistantly evaluated in "if conditions"

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Summary

Defining an empty variable in the pipeline and using it in if conditions to trigger certain jobs have in consistent behavior.

  • If the variable is the only statement, it evaluates to false
  • If the variable is ANDed with a TRUE statement, it evaluates to true

Steps to reproduce

Run this .gitlab-ci.yml:

image: busybox:latest
stages:
  - build
variables:
  TEST_VAR: ""
  CI_DEBUG_TRACE: "true"
build1:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "The TEST_VAR evaluated to true in this case"
  rules:
    - if: '$TEST_VAR && $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"'
build2:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "The TEST_VAR is evaluated to false in this case"
  rules:
    - if: '$TEST_VAR'

Only build1 gets executed.

Example Project

Same as the provided .gitlab-ci.yml file.

What is the current bug behavior?

When an empty variable is used in an if condition:

  • If the variable is the only statement, it evaluates to false
  • If the variable is ANDed with a TRUE statement, it evaluates to true

What is the expected correct behavior?

If the variable is ANDed with a TRUE statement, it should evaluate to FALSE

Relevant logs and/or screenshots

Output of checks

This bug happens on GitLab.com

Results of GitLab environment info

Expand for output related to GitLab environment info 

(For installations with omnibus-gitlab package run and paste the output of:
`sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info`)

(For installations from source run and paste the output of:
`sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:env:info RAILS_ENV=production`)

Results of GitLab application Check

Expand for output related to the GitLab application check 
(For installations with omnibus-gitlab package run and paste the output of:
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:check SANITIZE=true)


(For installations from source run and paste the output of:
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:check RAILS_ENV=production SANITIZE=true)


(we will only investigate if the tests are passing)

Possible fixes

As a workaround, one can check on variable like: '$TEST_VAR != ""

Edited by 🤖 GitLab Bot 🤖