GitLab 14.6 new Geo configuration streamlines the process of using the geographically closest replica to speed up clone and pull commands. It also introduces an activity list for GitLab's Agent to log real-time events and brings support for .NET 6.
GitLab Geo replicas provide local, read-only access to GitLab instances so pull and clone operations can execute faster. Geo replicas are a feature relevant to larger, distributed organizations that work with large repositories. Previous to GitLab 14.6, users were responsible for using the right URL for the specific replica they wanted to use for a clone or pull, while targeting all write requests to the main repository.
GitLab 14.6 enables instead the use of a single, organization-wide URL that automatically uses the Geo replica closest to the user. Additionally, secondary replicas transparently proxy write requests to the main GitLab instance, thus removing any limitations on the kind of operations users can carry through against a replica.
GitLab's Kubernetes Agent now includes the possibility of logging activity events. Initially, the activity list includes token creation and cluster connection events, but it will be extended in the near future with additional events, says GitLab.
GitLab 14.6 also improves its markdown editing experience by making the rich and textual markdown editing modes work seamlessly together, whereas it was previously required to save changes when switching from a mode to another.
As mentioned, GitLab 14.6 has updates to support Microsoft latest .NET Core release, .NET 6. Specifically, GitLab's static code analyzer for .NET, Security Code Scan, has been updated for the latest .NET version. Security Code Scan is able to detect a number of vulnerabilities, including SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting, Cross-Site Request Forgery, and others. Similarly, GitLab SAST has learned to detect .NET 6 project and apply the new scanning capabilities, provided you enabled the latest Security Code Scan in your .gitlab-ci.yml.
In addition to support for .NET 6, GitLab 14.6 code scanning updates many analyzers, including Spotbugs, PMD, Semgrep, and Gosec, which will be automatically used unless you pinned them to a specific version in .gitlab-ci.yml. Furthermore, scan policies for CI pipelines can now be defined independent of .gitlab-ci.yml.
GitLab 14.6 includes many more new features than what can be summarized here, so do not miss the official announcement for the full details.