Gitlab CI variable, option with quotes - gitlab

Question

I have the following gitab-ci.yml file:
stages:
- tests
.test: &test_job
image:
name: test.com/test:latest
entrypoint: [""]
script:
- py.test /test -v $EXTRA_OPTIONS
testing:
variables:
EXTRA_OPTIONS: -m "not slow"
<<: *test_job
stage: tests
I would like to pass option to run pytest like:
py.test /tests -v -m "not slow"
to avoid running slow tests, but gitlab is trying to escape quotes.
I've got something like:
py.test /tests -v -m '"not\' 'slow"'
is it possible to create a variable that would be inlined without escaping?
All I found it's this link but it does not help.

Answer 1

First of all, to avoid whitespace escaping in the variable, use single quotes:
variables:
EXTRA_OPTIONS: -m 'not slow'
To apply the variable, you have two options:
Use addopts combined with -o. addopts is an inifile key that enables you to persist command line args in pytest.ini. The -o/--override-ini arg allows one to override an inifile value, including addopts. The combination of both is a nifty trick to pass command line args via environment variables:
script:
- pytest -v -o "addopts=$EXTRA_OPTIONS" /test
Use eval:
script:
- eval pytest -v "$EXTRA_OPTIONS" /test
However, you need to be very careful when using eval; see Why should eval be avoided in Bash, and what should I use instead?
. I would thus prefer the first option.