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[Feature flag] Enable inmemory remotes for FindRemoteRootRefs

Feature

This feature uses the :find_remote_root_refs_inmemory feature flag. If enabled, Gitaly will not use remotes configured in the repo's gitconfig anymore but instead fetch directly via URL.

Owners

  • Team: Gitaly/Geo
  • Most appropriate slack channel to reach out to: #g_gitaly
  • Best individual to reach out to: pks-t
  • PM: ZJ

The Rollout Plan

  • Rollout on GitLab.com staging for a certain period (How long)
  • Rollout Feature for everyone as soon as it's ready

Expectations

What are we expecting to happen?

No change in behaviour should be observed.

What might happen if this goes wrong?

Determining remote root refs may fail. This is mostly relevant in the context of Geo.

What can we monitor to detect problems with this?

Rollout Timeline

Initial Rollout

Preparation Phase

  • Enable on staging (/chatops run feature set find_remote_root_refs_inmemory true --staging)

  • Test on staging

  • Ensure that documentation has been updated (More info)

  • Announce on the issue an estimated time this will be enabled on GitLab.com

  • Check if the feature flag change needs to be accompagnied with a change management issue. Cross link the issue here if it does.

Partial Rollout Phase

  • Enable on GitLab.com for individual groups/projects listed above and verify behaviour (/chatops run feature set --project=gitlab-org/gitlab find_remote_root_refs_inmemory true)

  • Verify behaviour (See Beta Groups) and add details with screenshots as a comment on this issue

  • If it is possible to perform an incremental rollout, this should be preferred. Proposed increments are: 10%, 50%, 100%. Proposed minimum time between increments is 15 minutes.

    • When setting percentages, make sure that the feature works correctly between feature checks. See #327117 (closed) for more information
    • For actor-based rollout: /chatops run feature set find_remote_root_refs_inmemory 10 --actors
    • For time-based rollout: /chatops run feature set find_remote_root_refs_inmemory 10

  • Make the feature flag enabled by default i.e. Change default_enabled to true

  • Cross post chatops slack command to #support_gitlab-com (more guidance when this is necessary in the dev docs) and in your team channel

Cleanup

This is an important phase, that should be either done in the next Milestone or as soon as possible. For the cleanup phase, please follow our documentation on how to clean up the feature flag.

  • Announce on the issue that the flag has been enabled

  • Remove :find_remote_root_refs_inmemory feature flag

    • Remove all references to the feature flag from the codebase
    • Remove the YAML definitions for the feature from the repository
    • Create a Changelog Entry

  • Clean up the feature flag from all environments by running this chatops command in #stging channel /chatops run feature delete find_remote_root_refs_inmemory.

Final Step

  • Close this rollout issue for the feature flag after the feature flag is removed from the codebase.

Rollback Steps

  • This feature can be disabled by running the following Chatops command:
/chatops run feature find_remote_root_refs_inmemory false
Edited by Douglas Barbosa Alexandre