Configure cache on GitLab runner - install dependencies by composer only once - php

Question

I have problem with gitlab cache config.
I use GitLab Community Edition 11.7.7, in docs we have:
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/caching/#caching-php-dependencies
So, my config:
cache:
key: ${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}
paths:
- vendor/
stages:
- code-style
- analysis
before_script:
- composer global require hirak/prestissimo
- composer install --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts
php-cs-fixer:
stage: code-style
script:
- vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run --diff --verbose --config=.php_cs.dist src tests
php-cs-fixer2:
stage: analysis
script:
- vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run --diff --verbose --config=.php_cs.dist src tests
Unfortunately, composer re-installs all dependencies in every job.
I would like to install all dependencies through the composer only once, how can I achieve it?

Answer 1

Your .gitlab-ci.yml configuration is similar to my own that run on self-hosting Gitlab at my company, I think it should works as well, So I have created an sample repo that runs pipelines based on your configuration in order to reproduce your problem.
As you can see here, I was trying to make a working pipeline by complete the configuration, For example, wrong image, missing composer executable...something like that, The final configuration is not much diffrent to yours.
image: php:7.2-alpine
cache:
key: $CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
paths:
- vendor/
stages:
- code-style
- analysis
before_script:
- php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
- php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === 'a5c698ffe4b8e849a443b120cd5ba38043260d5c4023dbf93e1558871f1f07f58274fc6f4c93bcfd858c6bd0775cd8d1') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"
- php composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
- export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
- php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"
- composer global require hirak/prestissimo
- composer install --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts
php-cs-fixer:
stage: code-style
script:
- vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run --diff --verbose --config=.php_cs.dist src tests || true
allow_failure: true
php-cs-fixer2:
stage: analysis
script:
- vendor/bin/php-cs-fixer fix --dry-run --diff --verbose --config=.php_cs.dist src tests
allow_failure: true
The last job #97744833 have a clue to answer your problem.
Compare the last part of outputs from previous failed job https://gitlab.com/Gasol/php-composer-cache-on-gitlab-ci/-/jobs/358118759#L191
187 Checked all files in 0.006 seconds, 10.000 MB memory used
191 ERROR: Job failed: exit code 8
to https://gitlab.com/Gasol/php-composer-cache-on-gitlab-ci/-/jobs/358121571#L190
The cache is creating when build success.
190 Creating cache master...
191 vendor/: found 4860 matching files
192 Uploading cache.zip to https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-com-runners-cache/project/15472690/master
193 Created cache
196 Job succeeded
So, after cache created, The job on the next stage should be ok for downloading cache archive.
https://gitlab.com/Gasol/php-composer-cache-on-gitlab-ci/-/jobs/358121572#L20
18 Checking cache for master...
19 Downloading cache.zip from https://storage.googleapis.com/gitlab-com-runners-cache/project/15472690/master
20 Successfully extracted cache
https://gitlab.com/Gasol/php-composer-cache-on-gitlab-ci/-/jobs/358121572#L46
And there are nothing to install when cache extracted. That's the result you want.
43 $ composer install --ignore-platform-reqs --no-scripts
44 Loading composer repositories with package information
45 Installing dependencies (including require-dev) from lock file
46 Nothing to install or update
47 Generating autoload files