Many CODEOWNERS files

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Problem to solve

For large monorepos, putting everything in one CODEOWNERS files is hard to manage. Even with multiple sections #12137 (closed) it can be hard to deal with.

When CODEOWNERS files are being used for compliance to make sure specific approvals happen for specific files, having all CODEOWNERS in the same file means that any time anyone updates the CODEOWNERS file, the teams that have compliance requirements have to review the change. It should be possible for different teams to modify their CODEOWNERS independently of each other.

MVP Proposal

Support multiple CODEOWNERS files, like app/frontend.codeowners, so that they can be managed and protected individually. Multiple files would be compiled into a single file before they are parsed.

• have an include: section
• included filename starts with a dot .
• have a suffix of .codeowners
• can exist anywhere in the repo
• single level of includes only (cannot include an included file)

Example

./CODEOWNERS

include some_folder/.common.codeowners
.
.
.

./some_folder/.common.codeowners

some codeowners rules

Links / references

The approach used for GitLab CI files and which has been proposed in this issue:

Availability and Testing

Add feature specs for nested CODEOWNER file scenarios. Optional E2E test to be added if feature specs cannot cover scenarios adequately. Exploratory testing of feature.

Regression testing, please ensure associated MR is labelled with pipeline:run-all-e2e and e2e:package-and-test job is passing (in particular the Create stage tests).