GitLab CI Deprecated only/except Syntax
A deprecated-syntax GitLab CI file using `only`/`except` in both the array and keyed forms, plus the long-retired `type:` keyword. For scoring a migrator that must rewrite all of it to `rules` and `stage`.
# DEPRECATED SYNTAX, on purpose. `only` / `except` predate `rules` and are no longer recommended;
# `type:` was replaced by `stage:` years earlier. A migrator should rewrite all three.
stages:
- build
- test
build:
type: build
script:
- make build
only:
- main
- /^release\/.*$/
except:
- schedules
test:
type: test
script:
- make test
only:
refs:
- merge_requests
variables:
- $RUN_TESTS == "true"
except:
refs:
- tags
Specifications
- System
- GitLab CI
- Variant
- deprecated syntax
- Deprecated
- only, except, type
- Jobs Affected
- 2
Testing contract
Expected to recover- Scenario
- Migrate deprecated GitLab CI keywords to their supported replacements
- Expected result
- Both `type:` keys become `stage:`, and the only/except blocks are rewritten into equivalent ordered `rules` entries
What is a .yml file?
YML is an alternate file extension for YAML, a human-readable data-serialization format based on indentation, key-value mappings, and lists. The content and parsing rules are identical to .yaml; only the extension differs. It is widely used for CI and application configuration files.
How to use this file
Use an example YML file to test that config loaders treat .yml and .yaml identically, and to exercise indentation, comment, and multi-document parsing.
How to use this file for testing
“GitLab CI Deprecated only/except Syntax” is a deterministic Novus Examples fixture for Config testing, Config parsing, Editor testing. TOML, INI, YAML, .env, and dotfile configuration samples with nested sections and typed values — for testing config parsers, loaders, and environment tooling.
Documented properties for this file: YML · 492 bytes. Compare results against paired or grouped companions on this page when present (clean↔damaged, searchable↔scanned, or format twins) so scores stay reproducible across runs.
Download the file once, keep the path stable in CI or local scripts, and treat the spec table as the contract: dimensions, seeds, field lists, and roles are intentional. Corrupt or invalid samples are labelled as such — expect parsers to fail loudly rather than silently accept them.
Pipeline and infrastructure fixtures are inert configuration: steps reference fictional images and scripts, and nothing here executes. Run your linter, schema validator, migrator, or policy engine against them, and expect the deprecated-syntax and intentionally invalid variants to be rejected.
Point your config loader at the file and assert it reads the documented sections and typed values, including any deliberately-tricky nesting or comments.
Code examples
import yaml # pip install pyyaml
with open("gitlab-ci-deprecated.yml") as f:
data = yaml.safe_load(f)
print(data)Related files
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- ymlGitLab CI Stages, Needs, and ArtifactsA three-stage GitLab CI pipeline with a default block, global variables, artifact expiry, a needs-based DAG, and a coverage-extraction regex. The baseline the other GitLab fixtures vary from.
- yamlArgo CD Application with Sync PolicyAn Argo CD Application with automated sync, prune and self-heal, retry backoff, sync options, and an ignoreDifferences rule that exempts replica counts from drift detection. All Git and cluster endpoints are example.invalid.
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