### Release notes <!-- What is the problem and solution you're proposing? This content sets the overall vision for the feature and serves as the release notes that will populate in various places, including the [release post blog](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/categories/releases/) and [Gitlab project releases](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/releases). " --> ### Problem to solve GitLab [CI for external repositories](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/ci_cd_for_external_repos/) is currently reliant on the [repository mirroring](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/repository_mirroring.html#overview) capability. In 13.0, https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/118753 added an application limit on pull mirroring that enforced a 5 minute delay between mirroring/updates. This hard-coded maximum mirror frequency negatively impacted CI pipelines for external repos, making this CI feature effectively un-usable for teams pushing more often than once every 5 minutes. This problem applies to both self-hosted and GitLab.com users. ### Intended users * [Sasha (Software Developer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#sasha-software-developer) * [Devon (DevOps Engineer)](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/#devon-devops-engineer) ### User experience goal <!-- What is the single user experience workflow this problem addresses? For example, "The user should be able to use the UI/API/.gitlab-ci.yml with GitLab to <perform a specific task>" https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/ux-research-training/user-story-mapping/ --> Allow the maximum mirror frequency to be a configurable application limit so that: - On self-hosted instances, admins can adjust or even disable the 5 minute delay ### Proposal 1. Make the maximum mirror frequency a configurable application limit. 2. Make the limit of "create the pipeline for the first 4 refs in a single push" a configurable application limit that can be customized on self-hosted. NOTE: Long term solution to make CI for external repositories more performant will be addressed in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/235916. ### Further details While the limitation implemented in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/118753 was intended to address performance issue with excessive mirroring and to prevent problems at GitLab.com at scale, this had unintended and significant negative impact on the `CI for External Repository` feature. Example: If Developer A pushed a change in minute 1, all pushes from any developer are ignored from a CI perspective until minute 6. Then if at minute 6 Dev B pushes, all subsequent changes are ignored. And given that all queued mirroring attempts are purged, any push in between minutes 1 and 6 will need to be manually run by specifying the commit in the New Pipeline page - and only after the push at minute 6 occurs. ### Permissions and Security <!-- What permissions are required to perform the described actions? Are they consistent with the existing permissions as documented for users, groups, and projects as appropriate? Is the proposed behavior consistent between the UI, API, and other access methods (e.g. email replies)? Consider adding checkboxes and expectations of users with certain levels of membership https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html * [ ] Add expected impact to members with no access (0) * [ ] Add expected impact to Guest (10) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Reporter (20) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Developer (30) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Maintainer (40) members * [ ] Add expected impact to Owner (50) members --> ### Documentation <!-- See the Feature Change Documentation Workflow https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/workflow.html#for-a-product-change * Add all known Documentation Requirements in this section. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/feature-change-workflow.html#documentation-requirements * If this feature requires changing permissions, update the permissions document. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/permissions.html --> ### Availability & Testing <!-- This section needs to be retained and filled in during the workflow planning breakdown phase of this feature proposal, if not earlier. What risks does this change pose to our availability? How might it affect the quality of the product? What additional test coverage or changes to tests will be needed? Will it require cross-browser testing? Please list the test areas (unit, integration and end-to-end) that needs to be added or updated to ensure that this feature will work as intended. Please use the list below as guidance. * Unit test changes * Integration test changes * End-to-end test change See the test engineering planning process and reach out to your counterpart Software Engineer in Test for assistance: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/quality/test-engineering/#test-planning --> * Unit test changes - Yes, please have test for all new/updated implementations * End-to-end test change - Yes, with this new E2E test scenario https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/quality/testcases/-/issues/144 (WIP MR that can be completed once this feature is implemented !42289) ### What does success look like, and how can we measure that? <!-- Define both the success metrics and acceptance criteria. Note that success metrics indicate the desired business outcomes, while acceptance criteria indicate when the solution is working correctly. If there is no way to measure success, link to an issue that will implement a way to measure this. --> ### What is the type of buyer? <!-- What is the buyer persona for this feature? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/product-marketing/roles-personas/buyer-persona/ In which enterprise tier should this feature go? See https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/pricing/#four-tiers --> ### Is this a cross-stage feature? <!-- Communicate if this change will affect multiple Stage Groups or product areas. We recommend always start with the assumption that a feature request will have an impact into another Group. Loop in the most relevant PM and Product Designer from that Group to provide strategic support to help align the Group's broader plan and vision, as well as to avoid UX and technical debt. https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/#cross-stage-features --> ### Links / references