# Guidelines for implementing Enterprise Edition features - **Write the code and the tests.**: As with any code, EE features should have good test coverage to prevent regressions. - **Write documentation.**: Add documentation to the `doc/` directory. Describe the feature and include screenshots, if applicable. - **Submit a MR to the `www-gitlab-com` project.**: Add the new feature to the [EE features list](https://about.gitlab.com/features/). ## Act as CE when unlicensed Since the implementation of [GitLab CE features to work with unlicensed EE instance][ee-as-ce] GitLab Enterprise Edition should work like GitLab Community Edition when no license is active. So EE features always should be guarded by `project.feature_available?` or `group.feature_available?` (or `License.feature_available?` if it is a system-wide feature). CE specs should remain untouched as much as possible and extra specs should be added for EE. Licensed features can be stubbed using the spec helper `stub_licensed_features` in `EE::LicenseHelpers`. [ee-as-ce]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/2500 ## Separation of EE code We want a [single code base][] eventually, but before we reach the goal, we still need to merge changes from GitLab CE to EE. To help us get there, we should make sure that we no longer edit CE files in place in order to implement EE features. Instead, all EE code should be put inside the `ee/` top-level directory. The rest of the code should be as close to the CE files as possible. [single code base]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/2952#note_41016454 ### EE-specific comments When complete separation can't be achieved with the `ee/` directory, you can wrap code in EE specific comments to designate the difference from CE/EE and add some context for someone resolving a conflict. ```rb # EE-specific start stub_licensed_features(variable_environment_scope: true) # EE specific end ``` ```haml -# EE-specific start = render 'ci/variables/environment_scope', form_field: form_field, variable: variable -# EE-specific end ``` EE-specific comments should not be backported to CE. **Note:** This is only meant as a workaround, we should follow up and resolve this soon. ### Detection of EE-only files For each commit (except on `master`), the `ee-files-location-check` CI job tries to detect if there are any new files that are EE-only. If any file is detected, the job fails with an explanation of why and what to do to make it pass. Basically, the fix is simple: `git mv ee/`. #### How to name your branches? For any EE branch, the job will try to detect its CE counterpart by removing any `ee-` prefix or `-ee` suffix from the EE branch name, and matching the last branch that contains it. For instance, from the EE branch `new-shiny-feature-ee` (or `ee-new-shiny-feature`), the job would find the corresponding CE branches: - `new-shiny-feature` - `ce-new-shiny-feature` - `new-shiny-feature-ce` - `my-super-new-shiny-feature-in-ce` #### Whitelist some EE-only files that cannot be moved to `ee/` The `ee-files-location-check` CI job provides a whitelist of files or folders that cannot or should not be moved to `ee/`. Feel free to open an issue to discuss adding a new file/folder to this whitelist. For instance, it was decided that moving EE-only files from `qa/` to `ee/qa/` would make it difficult to build the `gitLab-{ce,ee}-qa` Docker images and it was [not worth the complexity]. [not worth the complexity]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/4997#note_59764702 ### EE-only features If the feature being developed is not present in any form in CE, we don't need to put the codes under `EE` namespace. For example, an EE model could go into: `ee/app/models/awesome.rb` using `Awesome` as the class name. This is applied not only to models. Here's a list of other examples: - `ee/app/controllers/foos_controller.rb` - `ee/app/finders/foos_finder.rb` - `ee/app/helpers/foos_helper.rb` - `ee/app/mailers/foos_mailer.rb` - `ee/app/models/foo.rb` - `ee/app/policies/foo_policy.rb` - `ee/app/serializers/foo_entity.rb` - `ee/app/serializers/foo_serializer.rb` - `ee/app/services/foo/create_service.rb` - `ee/app/validators/foo_attr_validator.rb` - `ee/app/workers/foo_worker.rb` - `ee/app/views/foo.html.haml` - `ee/app/views/foo/_bar.html.haml` This works because for every path that are present in CE's eager-load/auto-load paths, we add the same `ee/`-prepended path in [`config/application.rb`]. This also applies to views. [`config/application.rb`]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/925d3d4ebc7a2c72964ce97623ae41b8af12538d/config/application.rb#L42-52 ### EE features based on CE features For features that build on existing CE features, write a module in the `EE` namespace and `prepend` it in the CE class, on the last line of the file that the class resides in. This makes conflicts less likely to happen during CE to EE merges because only one line is added to the CE class - the `prepend` line. For example, to prepend a module into the `User` class you would use the following approach: ```ruby class User < ActiveRecord::Base # ... lots of code here ... end User.prepend(EE::User) ``` Since the module would require an `EE` namespace, the file should also be put in an `ee/` sub-directory. For example, we want to extend the user model in EE, so we have a module called `::EE::User` put inside `ee/app/models/ee/user.rb`. This is also not just applied to models. Here's a list of other examples: - `ee/app/controllers/ee/foos_controller.rb` - `ee/app/finders/ee/foos_finder.rb` - `ee/app/helpers/ee/foos_helper.rb` - `ee/app/mailers/ee/foos_mailer.rb` - `ee/app/models/ee/foo.rb` - `ee/app/policies/ee/foo_policy.rb` - `ee/app/serializers/ee/foo_entity.rb` - `ee/app/serializers/ee/foo_serializer.rb` - `ee/app/services/ee/foo/create_service.rb` - `ee/app/validators/ee/foo_attr_validator.rb` - `ee/app/workers/ee/foo_worker.rb` #### Overriding CE methods To override a method present in the CE codebase, use `prepend`. It lets you override a method in a class with a method from a module, while still having access the class's implementation with `super`. There are a few gotchas with it: - you should always [`extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override`](utilities.md#overridehttpsgitlabcomgitlab-orggitlab-ceblobmasterlibgitlabutilsoverriderb) and use `override` to guard the "overrider" method to ensure that if the method gets renamed in CE, the EE override won't be silently forgotten. - when the "overrider" would add a line in the middle of the CE implementation, you should refactor the CE method and split it in smaller methods. Or create a "hook" method that is empty in CE, and with the EE-specific implementation in EE. - when the original implementation contains a guard clause (e.g. `return unless condition`), we cannot easily extend the behaviour by overriding the method, because we can't know when the overridden method (i.e. calling `super` in the overriding method) would want to stop early. In this case, we shouldn't just override it, but update the original method to make it call the other method we want to extend, like a [template method pattern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_method_pattern). For example, given this base: ```ruby class Base def execute return unless enabled? # ... # ... end end ``` Instead of just overriding `Base#execute`, we should update it and extract the behaviour into another method: ```ruby class Base def execute return unless enabled? do_something end private def do_something # ... # ... end end ``` Then we're free to override that `do_something` without worrying about the guards: ```ruby module EE::Base extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override override :do_something def do_something # Follow the above pattern to call super and extend it end end ``` This would require updating CE first, or make sure this is back ported to CE. When prepending, place them in the `ee/` specific sub-directory, and wrap class or module in `module EE` to avoid naming conflicts. For example to override the CE implementation of `ApplicationController#after_sign_out_path_for`: ```ruby def after_sign_out_path_for(resource) current_application_settings.after_sign_out_path.presence || new_user_session_path end ``` Instead of modifying the method in place, you should add `prepend` to the existing file: ```ruby class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base # ... def after_sign_out_path_for(resource) current_application_settings.after_sign_out_path.presence || new_user_session_path end # ... end ApplicationController.prepend(EE::ApplicationController) ``` And create a new file in the `ee/` sub-directory with the altered implementation: ```ruby module EE module ApplicationController extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override override :after_sign_out_path_for def after_sign_out_path_for(resource) if Gitlab::Geo.secondary? Gitlab::Geo.primary_node.oauth_logout_url(@geo_logout_state) else super end end end end ``` ##### Overriding CE class methods The same applies to class methods, except we want to use `ActiveSupport::Concern` and put `extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override` within the block of `class_methods`. Here's an example: ```ruby module EE module Groups module GroupMembersController extend ActiveSupport::Concern class_methods do extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override override :admin_not_required_endpoints def admin_not_required_endpoints super.concat(%i[update override]) end end end end end ``` #### Use self-descriptive wrapper methods When it's not possible/logical to modify the implementation of a method. Wrap it in a self-descriptive method and use that method. For example, in CE only an `admin` is allowed to access all private projects/groups, but in EE also an `auditor` has full private access. It would be incorrect to override the implementation of `User#admin?`, so instead add a method `full_private_access?` to `app/models/users.rb`. The implementation in CE will be: ```ruby def full_private_access? admin? end ``` In EE, the implementation `ee/app/models/ee/users.rb` would be: ```ruby override :full_private_access? def full_private_access? super || auditor? end ``` In `lib/gitlab/visibility_level.rb` this method is used to return the allowed visibility levels: ```ruby def levels_for_user(user = nil) if user.full_private_access? [PRIVATE, INTERNAL, PUBLIC] elsif # ... end ``` See [CE MR][ce-mr-full-private] and [EE MR][ee-mr-full-private] for full implementation details. [ce-mr-full-private]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/merge_requests/12373 [ee-mr-full-private]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/2199 ### Code in `config/routes` When we add `draw :admin` in `config/routes.rb`, the application will try to load the file located in `config/routes/admin.rb`, and also try to load the file located in `ee/config/routes/admin.rb`. In EE, it should at least load one file, at most two files. If it cannot find any files, an error will be raised. In CE, since we don't know if there will be an EE route, it will not raise any errors even if it cannot find anything. This means if we want to extend a particular CE route file, just add the same file located in `ee/config/routes`. If we want to add an EE only route, we could still put `draw :ee_only` in both CE and EE, and add `ee/config/routes/ee_only.rb` in EE, similar to `render_if_exists`. ### Code in `app/controllers/` In controllers, the most common type of conflict is with `before_action` that has a list of actions in CE but EE adds some actions to that list. The same problem often occurs for `params.require` / `params.permit` calls. **Mitigations** Separate CE and EE actions/keywords. For instance for `params.require` in `ProjectsController`: ```ruby def project_params params.require(:project).permit(project_params_attributes) end # Always returns an array of symbols, created however best fits the use case. # It _should_ be sorted alphabetically. def project_params_attributes %i[ description name path ] end ``` In the `EE::ProjectsController` module: ```ruby def project_params_attributes super + project_params_attributes_ee end def project_params_attributes_ee %i[ approvals_before_merge approver_group_ids approver_ids ... ] end ``` ### Code in `app/models/` EE-specific models should `extend EE::Model`. For example, if EE has a specific `Tanuki` model, you would place it in `ee/app/models/ee/tanuki.rb`. ### Code in `app/views/` It's a very frequent problem that EE is adding some specific view code in a CE view. For instance the approval code in the project's settings page. **Mitigations** Blocks of code that are EE-specific should be moved to partials. This avoids conflicts with big chunks of HAML code that are not fun to resolve when you add the indentation to the equation. EE-specific views should be placed in `ee/app/views/`, using extra sub-directories if appropriate. #### Using `render_if_exists` Instead of using regular `render`, we should use `render_if_exists`, which will not render anything if it cannot find the specific partial. We use this so that we could put `render_if_exists` in CE, keeping code the same between CE and EE. The advantages of this: - Minimal code difference between CE and EE. - Very clear hints about where we're extending EE views while reading CE codes. The disadvantage of this: - Slightly more work while developing EE features, because now we need to port `render_if_exists` to CE. - If we have typos in the partial name, it would be silently ignored. #### Using `render_ce` For `render` and `render_if_exists`, they search for the EE partial first, and then CE partial. They would only render a particular partial, not all partials with the same name. We could take the advantage of this, so that the same partial path (e.g. `shared/issuable/form/default_templates`) could be referring to the CE partial in CE (i.e. `app/views/shared/issuable/form/_default_templates.html.haml`), while EE partial in EE (i.e. `ee/app/views/shared/issuable/form/_default_templates.html.haml`). This way, we could show different things between CE and EE. However sometimes we would also want to reuse the CE partial in EE partial because we might just want to add something to the existing CE partial. We could workaround this by adding another partial with a different name, but it would be tedious to do so. In this case, we could as well just use `render_ce` which would ignore any EE partials. One example would be `ee/app/views/shared/issuable/form/_default_templates.html.haml`: ``` haml - if @project.feature_available?(:issuable_default_templates) = render_ce 'shared/issuable/form/default_templates' - elsif show_promotions? = render 'shared/promotions/promote_issue_templates' ``` In the above example, we can't use `render 'shared/issuable/form/default_templates'` because it would find the same EE partial, causing infinite recursion. Instead, we could use `render_ce` so it ignores any partials in `ee/` and then it would render the CE partial (i.e. `app/views/shared/issuable/form/_default_templates.html.haml`) for the same path (i.e. `shared/issuable/form/default_templates`). This way we could easily wrap around the CE partial. ### Code in `lib/` Place EE-specific logic in the top-level `EE` module namespace. Namespace the class beneath the `EE` module just as you would normally. For example, if CE has LDAP classes in `lib/gitlab/ldap/` then you would place EE-specific LDAP classes in `ee/lib/ee/gitlab/ldap`. ### Code in `lib/api/` It can be very tricky to extend EE features by a single line of `prepend`, and for each different [Grape](https://github.com/ruby-grape/grape) feature, we might need different strategies to extend it. To apply different strategies easily, we would use `extend ActiveSupport::Concern` in the EE module. Put the EE module files following [EE features based on CE features](#ee-features-based-on-ce-features). #### EE API routes For EE API routes, we put them in a `prepended` block: ```ruby module EE module API module MergeRequests extend ActiveSupport::Concern prepended do params do requires :id, type: String, desc: 'The ID of a project' end resource :projects, requirements: ::API::API::NAMESPACE_OR_PROJECT_REQUIREMENTS do # ... end end end end end ``` Note that due to namespace differences, we need to use the full qualifier for some constants. #### EE params We can define `params` and utilize `use` in another `params` definition to include params defined in EE. However, we need to define the "interface" first in CE in order for EE to override it. We don't have to do this in other places due to `prepend`, but Grape is complex internally and we couldn't easily do that, so we'll follow regular object-oriented practices that we define the interface first here. For example, suppose we have a few more optional params for EE, given this CE API code: ```ruby module API class MergeRequests < Grape::API # EE::API::MergeRequests would override the following helpers helpers do params :optional_params_ee do end end params :optional_params do # CE specific params go here... use :optional_params_ee end end end API::MergeRequests.prepend(EE::API::MergeRequests) ``` And then we could override it in EE module: ```ruby module EE module API module MergeRequests extend ActiveSupport::Concern prepended do helpers do params :optional_params_ee do # EE specific params go here... end end end end end end ``` This way, the only difference between CE and EE for that API file would be `prepend EE::API::MergeRequests`. #### EE helpers To make it easy for an EE module to override the CE helpers, we need to define those helpers we want to extend first. Try to do that immediately after the class definition to make it easy and clear: ```ruby module API class JobArtifacts < Grape::API # EE::API::JobArtifacts would override the following helpers helpers do def authorize_download_artifacts! authorize_read_builds! end end end end API::JobArtifacts.prepend(EE::API::JobArtifacts) ``` And then we can follow regular object-oriented practices to override it: ```ruby module EE module API module JobArtifacts extend ActiveSupport::Concern prepended do helpers do def authorize_download_artifacts! super check_cross_project_pipelines_feature! end end end end end end ``` #### EE-specific behaviour Sometimes we need EE-specific behaviour in some of the APIs. Normally we could use EE methods to override CE methods, however API routes are not methods and therefore can't be simply overridden. We need to extract them into a standalone method, or introduce some "hooks" where we could inject behavior in the CE route. Something like this: ```ruby module API class MergeRequests < Grape::API helpers do # EE::API::MergeRequests would override the following helpers def update_merge_request_ee(merge_request) end end put ':id/merge_requests/:merge_request_iid/merge' do merge_request = find_project_merge_request(params[:merge_request_iid]) # ... update_merge_request_ee(merge_request) # ... end end end API::MergeRequests.prepend(EE::API::MergeRequests) ``` Note that `update_merge_request_ee` doesn't do anything in CE, but then we could override it in EE: ```ruby module EE module API module MergeRequests extend ActiveSupport::Concern prepended do helpers do def update_merge_request_ee(merge_request) # ... end end end end end end ``` #### EE `route_setting` It's very hard to extend this in an EE module, and this is simply storing some meta-data for a particular route. Given that, we could simply leave the EE `route_setting` in CE as it won't hurt and we are just not going to use those meta-data in CE. We could revisit this policy when we're using `route_setting` more and whether or not we really need to extend it from EE. For now we're not using it much. #### Utilizing class methods for setting up EE-specific data Sometimes we need to use different arguments for a particular API route, and we can't easily extend it with an EE module because Grape has different context in different blocks. In order to overcome this, we need to move the data to a class method that resides in a separate module or class. This allows us to extend that module or class before its data is used, without having to place a `prepend` in the middle of CE code. For example, in one place we need to pass an extra argument to `at_least_one_of` so that the API could consider an EE-only argument as the least argument. We would approach this as follows: ```ruby # api/merge_requests/parameters.rb module API class MergeRequests < Grape::API module Parameters def self.update_params_at_least_one_of %i[ assignee_id description ] end end end end API::MergeRequests::Parameters.prepend(EE::API::MergeRequests::Parameters) # api/merge_requests.rb module API class MergeRequests < Grape::API params do at_least_one_of(*Parameters.update_params_at_least_one_of) end end end ``` And then we could easily extend that argument in the EE class method: ```ruby module EE module API module MergeRequests module Parameters extend ActiveSupport::Concern class_methods do extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override override :update_params_at_least_one_of def update_params_at_least_one_of super.push(*%i[ squash ]) end end end end end end ``` It could be annoying if we need this for a lot of routes, but it might be the simplest solution right now. This approach can also be used when models define validations that depend on class methods. For example: ```ruby # app/models/identity.rb class Identity < ActiveRecord::Base def self.uniqueness_scope [:provider] end prepend EE::Identity validates :extern_uid, allow_blank: true, uniqueness: { scope: uniqueness_scope, case_sensitive: false } end # ee/app/models/ee/identity.rb module EE module Identity extend ActiveSupport::Concern class_methods do extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override def uniqueness_scope [*super, :saml_provider_id] end end end end ``` Instead of taking this approach, we would refactor our code into the following: ```ruby # ee/app/models/ee/identity/uniqueness_scopes.rb module EE module Identity module UniquenessScopes extend ActiveSupport::Concern class_methods do extend ::Gitlab::Utils::Override def uniqueness_scope [*super, :saml_provider_id] end end end end end # app/models/identity/uniqueness_scopes.rb class Identity < ActiveRecord::Base module UniquenessScopes def self.uniqueness_scope [:provider] end end end Identity::UniquenessScopes.prepend(EE::Identity::UniquenessScopes) # app/models/identity.rb class Identity < ActiveRecord::Base validates :extern_uid, allow_blank: true, uniqueness: { scope: Identity::UniquenessScopes.scopes, case_sensitive: false } end ``` ### Code in `spec/` When you're testing EE-only features, avoid adding examples to the existing CE specs. Also do no change existing CE examples, since they should remain working as-is when EE is running without a license. Instead place EE specs in the `ee/spec` folder. ### Code in `spec/factories` Use `FactoryBot.modify` to extend factories already defined in CE. Note that you cannot define new factories (even nested ones) inside the `FactoryBot.modify` block. You can do so in a separate `FactoryBot.define` block as shown in the example below: ```ruby # ee/spec/factories/notes.rb FactoryBot.modify do factory :note do trait :on_epic do noteable { create(:epic) } project nil end end end FactoryBot.define do factory :note_on_epic, parent: :note, traits: [:on_epic] end ``` ## JavaScript code in `assets/javascripts/` To separate EE-specific JS-files we should also move the files into an `ee` folder. For example there can be an `app/assets/javascripts/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js` and an EE counterpart `ee/app/assets/javascripts/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js`. The corresponding import statement would then look like this: ```javascript // app/assets/javascripts/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js import bundle from '~/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js'; // ee/app/assets/javascripts/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js // (only works in EE) import bundle from 'ee/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js'; // in CE: app/assets/javascripts/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js // in EE: ee/app/assets/javascripts/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js import bundle from 'ee_else_ce/protected_branches/protected_branches_bundle.js'; ``` See the frontend guide [performance section](./fe_guide/performance.md) for information on managing page-specific javascript within EE. ## Vue code in `assets/javascript` ### script tag #### Child Component only used in EE To seperate Vue template differences we should [async import the components](https://vuejs.org/v2/guide/components-dynamic-async.html#Async-Components). Doing this allows for us to load the correct component in EE whilst in CE we can load a empty component that renders nothing. This code **should** exist in the CE repository as well as the EE repository. ```html ``` #### For JS code that is EE only, like props, computed properties, methods, etc, we will keep the current approach - Since we [can't async load a mixin](https://github.com/vuejs/vue-loader/issues/418#issuecomment-254032223) we will use the [`ee_else_ce`](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/ee_features.html#javascript-code-in-assetsjavascripts) alias we already have for webpack. - This means all the EE specific props, computed properties, methods, etc that are EE only should be in a mixin in the `ee/` folder and we need to create a CE counterpart of the mixin ##### Example: ```javascript import mixin from 'ee_else_ce/path/mixin'; { mixins: [mixin] } ``` - Computed Properties/methods and getters only used in the child import still need a counterpart in CE - For store modules, we will need a CE counterpart too. - You can see an MR with an example [here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/9762) #### `template` tag * **EE Child components** - Since we are using the async loading to check which component to load, we'd still use the component's name, check [this example](#child-component-only-used-in-ee). * **EE extra HTML** - For the templates that have extra HTML in EE we will use the `ifEE` mixin with the `v-if` directive. - You can either use the `template` tag as a wrapper or directly in the element, if there is only one element to be rendered in EE: ```html ``` ```html