Fix: J2 issue in gitlab CI/CD - Attempt3

Makefile

@@ -71,13 +71,6 @@ down-maintenance: ## Stop the maintenance mode
 	fi \
 	,)
 
-.PHONY: venv
-venv: .venv ## Creates a python virtual environment with dev tools (pip, pylint, ...)
-.venv:
-	@python3 -m venv .venv
-	@.venv/bin/pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel setuptools
-	@.venv/bin/pip3 install typer
-	@echo "To activate the venv, execute 'source .venv/bin/activate'"
 
 # Misc: info & clean
 .PHONY: info info-vars info-local

scripts/common.Makefile

@@ -221,13 +221,17 @@ clean-default: .check_clean ## Cleans all outputs
 	fi
 
 # Helpers -------------------------------------------------
-.venv:
+# Replace the existing .venv target with the following
+$(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv/bin/activate:
 	# creating virtual environment with tooling (jinja, etc)
-	@python3 -m venv .venv
-	@.venv/bin/pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel setuptools
-	@.venv/bin/pip3 install jinja2 j2cli[yaml] typer
-	@echo "To activate the venv, execute 'source .venv/bin/activate'"
-
+	python3 -m venv $(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv
+	$(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv/bin/pip3 install --upgrade pip wheel setuptools
+	$(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv/bin/pip3 install jinja2 j2cli[yaml] typer
+	@echo "To activate the venv, execute 'source $(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv/bin/activate'"
+PHONY: .venv
+.venv: $(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv/bin/activate ## Creates a python virtual environment with dev tools (pip, pylint, ...)
+.PHONY: venv
+venv: $(REPO_BASE_DIR)/.venv/bin/activate ## Creates a python virtual environment with dev tools (pip, pylint, ...)
 
 # https://github.com/kolypto/j2cli?tab=readme-ov-file#customization
 ifeq ($(shell test -f j2cli_customization.py && echo -n yes),yes)