URL for submodule incorrect

I am trying to use the following job to create an image that uses a repo, which references multiple submodules (hosted in same GitLab instance and even namespace):

build-image-kaniko:
    stage: build
    image:
        name: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:debug
        entrypoint: ['']
    variables:
        GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
        GIT_DEPTH: 1
        GIT_STRATEGY: clone 
    script:
        - echo Running Kaniko executor and building image
        - echo "{\"auths\":{\"${CI_REGISTRY}\":{\"auth\":\"$(printf "%s:%s" "${CI_REGISTRY_USER}" "${CI_JOB_TOKEN}" | base64 | tr -d '\n')\"}}}" > /kaniko/.docker/config.json
        - /kaniko/executor
          --context .
          --dockerfile Dockerfile
          --insecure
          --skip-tls-verify
          --skip-tls-verify-pull
          --insecure-pull
          --destination "${CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE}:latest-test"
          #--verbosity debug
    only:
        - setup-cicd

Based on which runner I am using (my own group runner that I know is using Ubuntu Server and a shared one provided by the administrators of the GitLab instance at my institute) I am getting two different URLs both of which are incorrect.

Note: NAMESPACE in my case is something like /institute/department/group/project-group and REPO is the repository the submodule is referencing.

  • Shared runner - unknown underlying system

    Cloning into '/builds/NAMESPACE/REPO'...
remote: The project you were looking for could not be found or you don't have permission to view it.
fatal: repository 'https://gitlab.example.com/NAMESPACE/REPO.git/' not found
fatal: clone of 'https://gitlab.example.com/NAMESPACE/REPO.git/' into submodule path '/builds/NAMESPACE/REPO' failed
Failed to clone 'REPO'. Retry scheduled

    Here there are two issues:

    • the URL string between the ' contains a trailing backslash /
    • the actual hyperlink in the Web UI yon can click on points at an URL that contains /' (backslash AND a single quotation mark)

  • Group runner - Ubuntu Server with microk8s for Kubernetes

    Cloning into '/builds/NAMESPACE/REPO'...
fatal: could not read Username for 'https://gitlab.example.com': No such device or address
fatal: clone of 'https://gitlab.example.com/NAMESPACE/REPO.git' into submodule path '/builds/NAMESPACE/REPO' failed
Failed to clone 'REPO'. Retry scheduled

    Here the issue is only an incorrect actual hyperlink in the Web UI that points contains ' (single quotation mark)

The first issue is a mystery to me. The runner may as well be even running on Windows or on Linux but not in Kubernetes, which doesn't really fit a setup required by Kaniko.

The second one is only Web UI-related (at least I hope so) since the authentification issue is what I am actually struggling with as part of my journey on discovering how to incorporate repos with submodules in a CI job that require credentials (using both Kaniko and Docker dind).

We are talking at least a Web UI bug. Worse scenario is things are going much deeper.

UPDATE 1:

I tried adjusting the URL of each submodule:

  • removed .git suffix
  • removed .git suffix and added /

No difference. I am also overwriting my .gitmodules in the CI to include the credentials (e.g. url = https://${CI_REGISTRY_USER}:${CI_JOB_TOKEN}@gitlab.example.com/NAMESPACE/REPO.git") and installing git Docker dind (currently dumped Kaniko and switched back to Docker for building my image) to manually clone my submodules.

Funny enough it doesn't matter whether I manually clone the submodules (git submodule update --init --recursive) or use the GIT_* CI job variables that are predefined by GitLab. The problem remains. So it appears to be an issue with how GitLab CICD handles such a task.

UPDATE 2:

Using relative URLs (with and without adjustments from first UPDATE 1) yield the same result.

Edited by Aleksandar Atanasov