GitLab 17.8: Protected repos, ML tracking, and enhanced CI/CD features launched

GitLab has launched version 17.8, bringing several improvements to enhance security, performance, and integration. A standout feature is the introduction of protected container repositories, which provide strict access controls and detailed permissions for operations like push and pull. This feature integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and compliance issues.

The update also improves deployment management by linking deployments to releases on the release page. Additionally, machine learning experiment tracking is now generally available, enabling data scientists to log and analyze parameters, metrics, and artifacts directly within GitLab. For GitLab Dedicated users, hosted runners on Linux are available in limited release, offering scalability with various sizes to support large CI/CD jobs without the need for infrastructure management.

Large M2 Pro hosted runners for macOS, currently in beta, provide up to six times the performance of x86-64 macOS runners, boosting development for Apple ecosystems. The update also includes improved governance for container registries and automatic scaling for Linux runners, optimizing resource use during peak workloads.