DevOps Interview DropIntermediate TierScenario+25 XP on read

Your CI uses git clone --depth=1 and a deploy script that needs history suddenly fails. Why?

Core Summary

A shallow clone downloads the current tree and exactly one commit, no parents, usually no tags. Anything that reads history breaks: `git describe`, changelogs, `git diff HEAD~10`, commit counts, `merge-base`. Fetch the depth you actually need instead of defaulting to depth 1 everywhere.

Hint 1: Shallow means the commit graph is truncated, not compressed

Hint 2: Tags usually do not come with a shallow clone either

Hint 3: You can deepen a shallow clone after the fact

Reported in interviews at GitLab, CircleCI

Your CI uses git clone --depth=1 and a deploy script that needs history suddenly fails. Why?

Core Summary

Hints