Added custom jobs cannot be removed

[mazhelez]

Discussed in #1809

^{Originally posted by OleWunschmann July 4, 2025}
We have a customized template for COSMO Alpaca:
https://github.com/cosmoconsult/Alpaca-PTE
We rely on the features for custom templates introduces with the pull request #853

We added some customizations in the form of "CustomJob-..." to some workflows (e.g. CICD.yaml)
But now we can not remove these custom jobs or rather the removal is not passed correctly to repositories using this template.

If I understand the custom template feature correctly, a template is encouraged to use custom jobs so that updating the template - with workflow "Update AL-Go System Files" - retains those jobs.
But this results in the mentionend problem for the final repository because removed custom jobs are re-added as custom jobs from the final repository.

Repro:

• Custom template using custom jobs
• Repository using the template
• Removing a custom job from the template
• Updating repository using the template
• Repository still contains the removed custom job

A similar problem occurs on renaming a custom job:
The "new" custom job is added but the "old" custom job is also retained in the final repository.

Is there a solution to this problem without having to manually remove the custom jobs from each repository?

Internal work item: AB#592506

[mazhelez]

Here is a description of the issue: AL-Go (preview) currently support adding custom jobs on the end repositories, and when a custom job is added to a repo, there is no way to differentiate whether the job was added by the custom template or the repo itself.

One solution is to disallow custom jobs on end repos.

[OleWunschmann]

@mazhelez
I think cusom jobs should still be allowed for end repos to add customizations without the need for a custom template.

Maybe a solution could be to add a setting that works similar to "unusedALGoSystemFiles" but for custom jobs (e.g. "unusedCustomWorkflowJobs").
Another solution could be to add "CustomTemplateJob"-Jobs that are only applied (similar to "CustomJob"-Jobs) while updating a template repo or when updating a end repo using a custom template.
The second solution could not handle existing custom jobs of custom templates.

[OleWunschmann]

I just tested the new change and was not successfull:

• Updated custom template repo with latest preview branch (AL-GO-PTE@preview)
• Updated final repo with custom template twice to also run the new update action
  • Custom jobs of the custom template are ignored (they have no comment in custom template)
  • Custom jobs of final repo still there but without comments because they were added from the final repo
• Added custom job to custom template (without comment)
• Updated final repo with custom template
  • Custom jobs of the custom template are ignored (they have no comment in custom template)
    • Added custom job is also missing
  • Custom jobs of final repo still there but without comments because they were added from the final repo

I could add the comment to the custom jobs in the custom template but this would result in their removal when the template repo is updated.

I think the collection of custom jobs has to be changed:

• from template repo: All custom jobs (with or without the comment)
  • Added with the comment
• from final repo: Only custom jobs without the comment
  • Added without the comment