Merge request pipeline workflow fails with child pipelines

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Summary

It seems like child pipelines don't inherit the workflow:rules from the upstream pipeline. If you are attempting to include Workflows/MergeRequest-Pipelines.gitlab-ci.yml and create a pipeline from a merge request, the child pipeline will fail to create with "Downstream pipeline cannot be created, no stages/jobs for this pipeline." However, this works when running a pipeline on master.

.gitlab-ci.yml

include:
  - template: 'Workflows/MergeRequest-Pipelines.gitlab-ci.yml'

image: node:14-buster

build_pipeline:
  trigger:
    include:
      - project: 'gitlab-gold/cbledsoe-test/mr-template-test-downstream'
        ref: 'master'
        file: 'node/build/.application-build-stages.gitlab-ci.yml'
    strategy: depend

.application-build-stages.gitlab-ci.yml

stages:
  - build

build:
  stage: build
  script:
    - echo "This is a build job"

If you insert a job, it will run but shouldn't be a requirement:

include:
  - template: 'Workflows/MergeRequest-Pipelines.gitlab-ci.yml'

image: node:14-buster

job_1:
   script:
     - echo "This should now run"

build_pipeline:
  trigger:
    include:
      - project: 'gitlab-gold/cbledsoe-test/mr-template-test-downstream'
        ref: 'master'
        file: 'node/build/.application-build-stages.gitlab-ci.yml'
    strategy: depend

Lastly, if you replace the included workflow and just add it directly, it still does not work and fails similarly:

.gitlab-ci.yml

workflow:
  rules:
    - if: $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_IID
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

image: node:14-buster

build_pipeline:
  trigger:
    include:
      - project: 'gitlab-gold/cbledsoe-test/mr-template-test-downstream'
        ref: 'master'
        file: 'node/build/.application-build-stages.gitlab-ci.yml'
    strategy: depend

Example Project

See ZD Ticket.

What is the current bug behavior?

When including Workflows/MergeRequest-Pipelines.gitlab-ci.yml with parent-child pipelines, the pipeline fails with Downstream pipeline cannot be created.

What is the expected correct behavior?

We would expect that when you use the merge requests pipelines workflow, it would work with parent child pipelines and the child pipeline would inherit rules.

ZD Ticket (Internal Use)

• https://gitlab.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/191092

Output of checks

This happens on GitLab.com 13.9.0-pre 9939a5f9