---
stage: Application Security Testing
group: Static Analysis
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
title: Troubleshooting Code Quality
---

{{< details >}}

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- Offering: GitLab.com, GitLab Self-Managed, GitLab Dedicated

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When working with Code Quality, you might encounter the following issues.

## The code cannot be found and the pipeline runs always with default configuration

You are probably using a private runner with the Docker-in-Docker socket-binding configuration.
You should configure Code Quality checks to run on your worker as documented in
[Use private runners](code_quality_codeclimate_scanning.md#use-private-runners).

## Changing the default configuration has no effect

A common issue is that the terms `Code Quality` (GitLab specific) and `Code Climate`
(Engine used by GitLab) are very similar. You must add a **`.codeclimate.yml`** file
to change the default configuration, **not** a `.codequality.yml` file. If you use
the wrong filename, the [default `.codeclimate.yml`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/codequality/-/blob/master/codeclimate_defaults/.codeclimate.yml.template)
is still used.

## No Code Quality report is displayed in a merge request

Code Quality reports from the source or target branch may be missing for comparison on the merge request, so no information can be displayed.

Missing report on the source branch can be due to:

1. Use of the [`REPORT_STDOUT` environment variable](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/codequality#environment-variables), no report file is generated and nothing displays in the merge request.

Missing report on the target branch can be due to:

- Newly added Code Quality job in your `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
- Your pipeline is not set to run the Code Quality job on your target branch.
- Commits are made to the default branch that do not run the Code Quality job.
- The [`artifacts:expire_in`](../yaml/_index.md#artifactsexpire_in) CI/CD setting can cause the Code Quality artifacts to expire faster than desired.

Verify the presence of report on the base commit by obtaining the `base_sha` using the [merge request API](../../api/merge_requests.md#get-single-mr) and use the [pipelines API with the `sha` attribute](../../api/pipelines.md#list-project-pipelines) to check if pipelines ran.

## No Code Quality symbol in the changes view

If no symbol is displayed in the [changes view](code_quality.md#merge-request-changes-view), ensure that the `location.path` in the code quality report:

- Is using a relative path to the file containing the code quality violation.
- Is not prefixed with `./`. For example, the `path` should be `somedir/file1.rb` instead of `./somedir/file1.rb`.

## Only a single Code Quality report is displayed, but more are defined

Code Quality automatically [combines multiple reports](code_quality.md#scan-code-for-quality-violations).

In GitLab 15.6 and earlier, Code Quality used only the artifact from the latest created job (with the largest job ID). Code Quality artifacts from earlier jobs were ignored.

## RuboCop errors

When using Code Quality jobs on a Ruby project, you can encounter problems running RuboCop.
For example, the following error can appear when using either a very recent or very old version
of Ruby:

```plaintext
/usr/local/bundle/gems/rubocop-0.52.1/lib/rubocop/config.rb:510:in `check_target_ruby':
Unknown Ruby version 2.7 found in `.ruby-version`. (RuboCop::ValidationError)
Supported versions: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
```

This is caused by the default version of RuboCop used by the check engine not covering
support for the Ruby version in use.

To use a custom version of RuboCop that
[supports the version of Ruby used by the project](https://docs.rubocop.org/rubocop/compatibility.html#support-matrix),
you can [override the configuration through a `.codeclimate.yml` file](https://docs.codeclimate.com/docs/rubocop#using-rubocops-newer-versions)
created in the project repository.

For example, to specify using RuboCop release **0.67**:

```yaml
version: "2"
plugins:
  rubocop:
    enabled: true
    channel: rubocop-0-67
```

## No Code Quality appears on merge requests when using custom tool

If your merge requests do not show any Code Quality changes when using a custom tool, ensure that
*all* line properties in the JSON are `integer`.

## Error: `Could not analyze code quality`

You might get the error:

```shell
error: (CC::CLI::Analyze::EngineFailure) engine pmd ran for 900 seconds and was killed
Could not analyze code quality for the repository at /code
```

If you enabled any of the Code Climate plugins, and the Code Quality CI/CD job fails with this
error message, it's likely the job takes longer than the default timeout of 900 seconds:

To work around this problem, set `TIMEOUT_SECONDS` to a higher value in your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file.

For example:

```yaml
code_quality:
  variables:
    TIMEOUT_SECONDS: 3600
```

## Using Code Quality with a Kubernetes or OpenShift runner

CodeClimate-based scanning has special requirements.
You may need to [Configure Kubernetes or OpenShift runners for CodeClimate-based scanning](code_quality_codeclimate_scanning.md#configure-kubernetes-or-openshift-runners) before scans work properly.

## Error: `x509: certificate signed by unknown authority`

If you set the `CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE` to an image that is hosted in a Docker registry which uses a TLS
certificate that is not trusted, such as a self-signed certificate, you might see the following error:

```shell
$ docker pull --quiet "$CODE_QUALITY_IMAGE"
Error response from daemon: Get https://gitlab.example.com/v2/: x509: certificate signed by unknown authority
```

To fix this, configure the Docker daemon to [trust certificates](https://distribution.github.io/distribution/about/insecure/#use-self-signed-certificates)
by putting the certificate inside of the `/etc/docker/certs.d` directory.

This Docker daemon is exposed to the subsequent Code Quality Docker container in the
[GitLab Code Quality template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/v13.8.3-ee/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Jobs/Code-Quality.gitlab-ci.yml#L41)
and should be to exposed any other containers in which you want to have your certificate
configuration apply.

### Docker

If you have access to GitLab Runner configuration, add the directory as a
[volume mount](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/configuration/advanced-configuration.html#volumes-in-the-runnersdocker-section).

Replace `gitlab.example.com` with the actual domain of the registry.

Example:

```toml
[[runners]]
  ...
  executor = "docker"
  [runners.docker]
    ...
    privileged = true
    volumes = ["/cache", "/etc/gitlab-runner/certs/gitlab.example.com.crt:/etc/docker/certs.d/gitlab.example.com/ca.crt:ro"]
```

### Kubernetes

If you have access to GitLab Runner configuration and the Kubernetes cluster,
you can [mount a ConfigMap](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/kubernetes/#configmap-volume).

Replace `gitlab.example.com` with the actual domain of the registry.

1. Create a ConfigMap with the certificate:

   ```shell
   kubectl create configmap registry-crt --namespace gitlab-runner --from-file /etc/gitlab-runner/certs/gitlab.example.com.crt
   ```

1. Update GitLab Runner `config.toml` to specify the ConfigMap:

   ```toml
   [[runners]]
     ...
     executor = "kubernetes"
     [runners.kubernetes]
       image = "alpine:3.12"
       privileged = true
       [[runners.kubernetes.volumes.config_map]]
         name = "registry-crt"
         mount_path = "/etc/docker/certs.d/gitlab.example.com/ca.crt"
         sub_path = "gitlab.example.com.crt"
   ```

## Failed to load Code Quality report

The Code Quality report can fail to load when there are issues parsing data from the artifact file.
To gain insight into the errors, you can execute a GraphQL query using the following steps:

1. Go to the pipeline details page.
1. Append `.json` to the URL.
1. Copy the `iid` of the pipeline.
1. Go to the [interactive GraphQL explorer](../../api/graphql/_index.md#interactive-graphql-explorer).
1. Run the following query:

   ```graphql
   {
     project(fullPath: "<fullpath-to-your-project>") {
       pipeline(iid: "<iid>") {
         codeQualityReports {
           count
           nodes {
             line
             description
             path
             fingerprint
             severity
           }
           pageInfo {
             hasNextPage
             hasPreviousPage
             startCursor
             endCursor
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
   ```

## No report artifact is created

With certain Runner configurations, the Code Quality scanning job may not have access to your source code.
If this happens, the `gl-code-quality-report.json` artifact won't be created.

To resolve this issue, either:

- Use the [documented Runner configuration for Docker-in-Docker](../docker/using_docker_build.md#use-docker-in-docker), which uses privileged mode instead of Docker socket binding.
- Apply the [community workaround in issue 32027](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/32027#note_1318822628) if you wish to continue using Docker socket binding.

For more details, see [Change Runner configuration](code_quality_codeclimate_scanning.md#change-runner-configuration).