Deploying GitLab pages for different branches using Hugo framework?

Question

I'm using the Hugo framework to deploy GitLab pages. As described in another post, it seems to be possible to publish pages for multiple branches.

I tried to integrate the code provided in the post, but it doesn't work.

My original gitlab-ci.yml looks like:

image: registry.gitlab.com/pages/hugo/hugo_extended:latest

variables:
  GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive

before_script:
  - apk add --update --no-cache git

test:
  script:
  - hugo --gc --minify
  except:
  - master

pages:
  script:
  - hugo --gc --minify
  artifacts:
    paths:
    - public
  only:
  - master

Is it possible, to deploy pages for every branch when using hugo? What do i need to change to achieve this?

Answer 1

Below solution, from GitLab Pages per branch : the no-compromise hack to serve preview pages, works with Hugo or any generating framework.

You can then have these features :

• main content is exposed on $CI_PAGES_URL and the path is configurable with $CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH
• Per-branch preview content is exposed on $CI_PAGES_URL/preview, with a homepage to easily navigate to branches content
• Path to root preview folder is configurable with $EPHEMERAL_BRANCHES_PATH variable to hide preview content by obfuscation
• Generated pages are associated with environments to take advantage of auto-cleaning on branch deletion
• To avoid disturbing already existing environments, pages environment are placed under a pages folder
• If main content has not been generated in current cache, or if the cache has been deleted, an error is triggered, to avoid accidental deletion
• Deletion job can be triggered manually with any cache path as input, to clean outdated data
• Code can safely be added to an existing project pipeline without causing trouble with already existing jobs
• The workflow:rules can be deleted if you already have your own, or updated to match your flow
• The job must be named pages and the artifact must be a public folder to be deployed to GitLab Pages (or you can use the pages:publish keyword)

workflow:
  rules: # disable tag pipelines and duplicate MR pipelines
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH

variables:
  EPHEMERAL_BRANCHES_PATH: preview # subpath to ephemeral branches content for preview, anything will work

pages:
  stage: build
  image: alpine:3.18
  cache:
    key: gitlab-pages
    paths: [public]
  before_script:
    # default available 'tree' app in alpine image does not work as intended
    - apk add tree
    # CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH is defined in rules, different between main branch and ephemeral branches
    - mkdir -p public/$CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH && ls public/$CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH/..
    - | # avoid deleting main branch content when cache has been erased
      if [ "$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH" != "$CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH" ] && [ ! -d public/$CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH ]; then
        echo -e "\e[91;1m Unable to retrieve $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH generated files from cache ; please regenerate $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH files first\e[0m"
        exit 1
      fi
    - rm -rf public/$CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH || true # remove last version of current branch
  script:
    - ./generate-my-html.sh --output build-docs || true # insert here your code that generates documentation
    - mv --verbose build-docs public/$CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH
    - cd public/$EPHEMERAL_BRANCHES_PATH
    - tree -d -H '.' -L 1 --noreport --charset utf-8 -T "Versions" -o index.html # generate a root HTML listing all previews for easier access
  environment:
    name: pages/$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH
    action: start
    url: $CI_PAGES_URL/$CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH
    on_stop: pages-clean-preview
  rules:
    # 'main branch' is exposed at GitLab Pages root
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
      variables:
        CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH: "."
    # other (short-lived) branches generation are exposed in 'EPHEMERAL_BRANCHES_PATH/branch-name-sanitized' sub path
    - variables:
        CURRENT_CONTENT_PATH: $EPHEMERAL_BRANCHES_PATH/$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG
  artifacts:
    paths: [public]
    expire_in: 1h

pages-clean-preview:
  stage: build
  image: alpine:3.18
  cache:
    key: gitlab-pages
    paths: [public]
  variables:
    GIT_STRATEGY: none # git files not available after branch deletion
    FOLDER_TO_DELETE: preview/$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH # an indirection to allow arbirtraty deletion when launching this job
  script:
    - rm -rf public/$FOLDER_TO_DELETE
  environment:
    name: pages/$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH
    action: stop
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH != $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH
      when: manual
      allow_failure: true