Gitlab CI/CD running pipeline only on tag push and only if specific files changed - deployment

Question

I have a monorepository with a lot of things that needs to be deployed seperately.
Now i wonder if it is possible to run a task only if a tag is pushed and if there are changes in a certain directory.
I've tried the following:
.components:
only:
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
except:
- branches
.components:
only:
refs:
- tags
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
.components:
rules:
- if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
.components:
rules:
- if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
when: always
- when: never
This is one of the .gitlab-ci.yml files i use. Each of then looks the same except of a few things.
.components:
rules:
- if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG'
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
build_componets:
stage: build
extends: .components
needs: []
script:
- echo "Compiling the components code..."
test_componets:
stage: test
extends: .components
needs: ["build_componets"]
script:
- echo "Compiling the components code..."
deploy_componets:
stage: deploy
extends: .components
needs: ["test_componets"]
script:
- echo "Compiling the components code..."
Currently behavior: Every pipeline runs... regardless of this configurations but only when I'm pushing a tag.
All of those files are imported to a main file at the project root.
stages:
- build
- test
- deploy
include:
- source/packages/business-logic/.gitlab-ci.yml
- source/packages/components/.gitlab-ci.yml
- source/applications/native/.gitlab-ci.yml
- source/services/user-service/.gitlab-ci.yml
And the merged YAML looks like this.
---
".business-logic":
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/business-logic/**/*
when: always
- when: never
build_business_logic:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/business-logic/**/*
when: always
- when: never
stage: build
extends: ".business-logic"
needs: []
script:
- yarn install
- yarn workspace #zeou/business-logic build
test_business_logic:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/business-logic/**/*
when: always
- when: never
stage: test
extends: ".business-logic"
needs:
- build_business_logic
script:
- echo "Compiling the business-logics code..."
deploy_business_logic:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/business-logic/**/*
when: always
- when: never
stage: deploy
extends: ".business-logic"
needs:
- test_business_logic
script:
- echo "Compiling the business-logics code..."
".components":
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
when: always
- when: never
build_components:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
when: always
- when: never
stage: build
extends: ".components"
needs: []
script:
- echo "Compiling the components code..."
test_components:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
when: always
- when: never
stage: test
extends: ".components"
needs:
- build_components
script:
- echo "Compiling the components code..."
deploy_components:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/packages/components/**/*
when: always
- when: never
stage: deploy
extends: ".components"
script:
- echo "Compiling the components code..."
stages:
- ".pre"
- build
- test
- deploy
- ".post"
before_script:
Can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong ?
Thanks 100 times :D

Answer 1

Use rules: in this case to combine a changes: clause with an if: rule to check if there is a tag.
myjob:
rules:
- if: "$CI_COMMIT_TAG"
changes:
- source/services/user-service/**/*
# ...