gitlab CI and r issue with using manual and manual rules together - gitlab

Question

I am trying to setup CI in gitlab so
the second job (pushdev) will be available for running manually only after the devjob has run successfully.
the third job pushtostage will only run iff file has changed.
the way the jobs are setup, second and third jobs alway run. What is missing in the pipeline spec
devjob:
image: node:16
stage: publishdev
script:
- echo "running validation checks"
- npm run validate
rules:
- changes:
- ./src/myfile.txt
- when: manual
# - this jobs needs to run after "devjob" has run successfully
# and myfile.txt has changed
# - "needs" artifacts from the "lint" job
pushdev:
image: node:16
stage: publishdev
needs: [ "devjob", "lint"]
script:
- echo "Pushing changes after validation to dev"
- npm run pushdev
rules:
- changes:
- ./src/myfile.txt
when: on_success
- when: manual
pushtostage:
image: node:16
stage: pushstage
script:
- echo "Pushing changes to stage"
rules:
- changes:
- ./src/myfile.txt
- when: manual

Answer 1

I change your sample to look like this:
stages:
- publishdev
- pushstage
default:
image: ubuntu:20.04
lint:
stage: publishdev
script:
- echo "lint job"
devjob:
stage: publishdev
script:
- echo "running validation checks"
rules:
- changes:
- README.md
when: manual
allow_failure: false
pushdev:
stage: publishdev
needs: [ "devjob", "lint"]
script:
- echo "Pushing changes after validation to dev"
rules:
- changes:
- README.md
when: manual
allow_failure: false
pushtostage:
stage: pushstage
script:
- echo "Pushing changes to stage"
rules:
- changes:
- README.md
when: manual
allow_failure: false
I add allow_failure: false, because allow_failure when manual job default is true.
I merge your rules. because GitLab rules one - is one rule:
Rules are evaluated when the pipeline is created, and evaluated in order until the first match.
your .gitlab-ci.yml first job devjob is manual, so it is always a success, and your second job pushdev first rule changes and when: on_success always match, so it always run.
I change your .gitlab-ci.yml, first job devjob merge your rules when file change and set it is manual job and not allow_failure. and so on.
the sample code in Files · try-rules-stackoverflow-72594854-manual · GitLab PlayGround / Workshop / Tryci · GitLab