Docs feedback: GitLab Pages artifacts:expire_in

GitLab Pages

artifacts:expire_in

Problem to solve

• https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/#artifactsexpire_in
• https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/yaml/#pages

In the pages deploy stage (unique Gitlab job) would an artifacts:expire_in directive such as like this: https://gitlab.com/pages/gitbook/blob/master/.gitlab-ci.yml#L31 be a good idea? Wouldn't that just wipe out the pages in a week? Making the web pages inaccessible. Or are both the artifacts and also another separate copy for the pages being stored separately, so just the artifacts from the job are removed?

• I understand that any normal job which creates artifacts can have an artifacts:expire_in directive, that is if you want to change the length of time Gitlab stores the results of a build. So does adding the artifacts:expire_in directive to a pages job do anything? And would the artifacts:expire_in directive on a pages job not wipe out the files which are used to serve the web pages, once it expires?
• Is the default really to upload the artifacts from a pages job once as an artifact archive and then again (twice) stored and served as a static website? Or is just one artifact archive created?
• Could the documentation be updated to reflect if there is any point in adding an artifacts:expire_in directive to the pages job in .gitlab-ci.yml please?

Further details

Sorry if the explanation is confusing.

Implementation guide

Amend the documentation to reflect the behavior:

• Crosslink artifacts:expire_in and pages:pages.expire_in.
• Link from pages:pages.expire_in to https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/pages/#expiration.

Who can address the issue

Anyone with knowledge of .gitlab-ci.yml, Gitlab pages and is responsible for documentation at Gitlab.com.