Break workflow up: a reusable workflow using reusable actions #69

rtyley · 2025-06-25T16:17:32Z

This change enables a lot of code-reuse with the new Gradle release workflow:

Add support for Gradle libraries including version incrementing, monorepos, and multi-module gha-gradle-library-release-workflow#1

Changes

The bulk of the reusable workflow file has been extracted into a suite of 7 GitHub Actions (specifically composite actions), each of which correspond to the 7 existing jobs in the flow.
- As GitHub Actions have a convention that their parameters are 'dash-case', a lot of the parameters have switched from snake-case (release_type ...with an underscore) to dash-case (release-type ...with a hyphen). This change means that we should probably make the next release of gha-scala-library-release-workflow have a major-version-bump, eg to v3.
- The 5 global environment variables in the reusable workflow have been removed, to improve encapsulation of the 7 GitHub Actions - ie to be. more explicit about what inputs they're actually using.
- Unfortunately there's no easy way to express that a GitHub Action should run using the same commit as the reusable-workflow file that called it (tho' it is possible for workflow-to-workflow). Consequently for this PR, all the references to those GitHub actions have a @break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files reference - which needs to be switched to @main before merge
For passing files between jobs, we switch from using GitHub Actions caching infrastructure to using artifacts. Using caching was always a bit of a hack, and this change means we don't have to try to come up with unique cache keys.

For composite actions (unlike reusable workflows), we can access github.action_path from the github context, and get files from our repo that way.

Testing

Try out gha-scala-library-release-workflow PR 69 etag-caching#96
- https://github.com/guardian/etag-caching/actions/runs/16073247966 ran with commit dc7b7e6 of this PR, and succeeded - the run looks good.

.github/workflows/reusable-release.yml

This reverts commit 24367db. See this and the subsequent comment: #69 (comment) When we manually use `actions/checkout` to get an action, _it makes us responsible for finding a safe folder_ to checkout the GitHub action- when we let the GitHub Actions system do it for us, the _system_ is responsible for doing it. So, I think that means I prefer the 'system checkout' syntax: ```yml - id: init uses: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow/actions/init@break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files ``` ...rather than the 'manual checkout' syntax: ```yml - uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: repository: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow # TODO - adapt for forks ref: ${{ ACTION_BRANCH }} - id: init uses: ./.github/actions/init ``` ...even though the 'manual checkout' syntax lets us configure the `ACTION_BRANCH` in just one place.

rtyley · 2025-07-03T13:01:26Z

.github/workflows/reusable-release.yml

    steps:
-      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+      - id: act
+        uses: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow/actions/init@break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files


Before merge, we need to switch this - and the other invocations of our actions - to no longer point to the break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files branch.

Where should it point?! Maybe we should point to main - and when we cut a release, switch it to v2 or v3?!

Suggested change

uses: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow/actions/init@break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files

uses: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow/actions/init@main

JamieB-gu

Looks good!

actions/init/action.yml

JamieB-gu · 2025-07-03T17:00:46Z

actions/update-github/action.yml

+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.generate-github-app-token.outputs.token }}
+        GH_REPO: ${{ github.repository }}


What is this used for?

This change enables a lot of code-reuse with the new Gradle release workflow: * guardian#1 ## Changes * The bulk of the reusable workflow file has been extracted into a suite of 7 GitHub _Actions_ (specifically [composite actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/tutorials/creating-a-composite-action)), each of which correspond to the 7 existing jobs in the flow. * As GitHub Actions have a convention that their parameters are 'dash-case', a lot of the parameters have switched from snake-case (`release_type` - with an underscore) to dash-case (`release-type` - with a hyphen). This change means that we should probably * The 5 global environment variables in the reusable workflow have been removed, to improve encapsulation of the 7 GitHub Actions - ie to be. more explicit about what inputs they're actually using. * Unfortunately there's [no](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/18601#discussioncomment-13296390) easy way to express that a GitHub Action should run using the same commit as the reusable-workflow file that called it (tho' [it is possible for workflow-to-workflow](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/sharing-automations/reusing-workflows#:~:text=If%20you%20use%20the%20second%20syntax%20option%20(without%20%7Bowner%7D/%7Brepo%7D%20and%20%40%7Bref%7D)%20the%20called%20workflow%20is%20from%20the%20same%20commit%20as%20the%20caller%20workflow.%20Ref%20prefixes%20such%20as%20refs/heads%20and%20refs/tags%20are%20not%20allowed.%20You%20cannot%20use%20contexts%20or%20expressions%20in%20this%20keyword.)). Consequently for this PR, all the references to those GitHub actions have a `@break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files` reference - which needs to be switched to `@main` before merge * For passing files between jobs, we switch from using GitHub Actions _caching_ infrastructure to [using artifacts](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/writing-workflows/choosing-what-your-workflow-does/storing-and-sharing-data-from-a-workflow#comparing-artifacts-and-dependency-caching). Using caching was always a bit of a hack, and this change means we don't have to try to come up with unique cache keys. * Everything in the '🔒 Update GitHub' Action needs the `GH_REPO` & `GH_TOKEN` environment variables, so I've added them to the env in the `Common Values` section, and moved that step to the start. For [composite actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/tutorials/creating-a-composite-action) (unlike reusable workflows), we can [access `github.action_path`](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/32593#discussioncomment-3616375) from the [`github` context](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/reference/accessing-contextual-information-about-workflow-runs#github-context), and get files from our repo that way. ## Testing * guardian/etag-caching#96

rtyley · 2025-07-04T15:01:32Z

I'm happy this is now in a good state - I'm now going to:

Update the action branch references from @break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files to @main
Merge this PR
Make a new release of the workflow as v3 - I may need to do some figuring out about what the action references should be with a release.

rtyley · 2025-07-04T16:41:57Z

Make a new release of the workflow as v3 - I may need to do some figuring out about what the action references should be with a release.

Actually, I've just realised that although I intended to update these two workflow parameters to use dash-case, I never got round to it in this PR! So the next release will actually be - I think - compatible (if inconsistent in it's use of dash-case) and so I will just release it as v2.0.2.

Sadly, on #69, I managed to do lots of testing of Preview releases, but not any of full-main-branch releases - consequently I missed that push-release-commit was missing an input parameter of `release-type` - I need a better linter for GitHub Actions! Example failure: https://github.com/guardian/etag-caching/actions/runs/16078051367/job/45377631265

rtyley added a commit to guardian/etag-caching that referenced this pull request Jun 25, 2025

Try out guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow#69

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rtyley mentioned this pull request Jun 25, 2025

Try out gha-scala-library-release-workflow PR 69 guardian/etag-caching#96

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rtyley mentioned this pull request Jun 30, 2025

Add support for Gradle libraries including version incrementing, monorepos, and multi-module guardian/gha-gradle-library-release-workflow#1

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rtyley marked this pull request as ready for review July 3, 2025 15:02

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Try to explain why this was here - see #69 (comment)

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rtyley force-pushed the break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files branch from 60aa859 to dc7b7e6 Compare July 4, 2025 11:57

rtyley changed the title ~~Break workflow up into smaller reusable files~~ Break workflow up: a reusable workflow using reusable actions Jul 4, 2025

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Reset action references to 'main' branch

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rtyley merged commit 14f5208 into main Jul 4, 2025

rtyley mentioned this pull request Jul 4, 2025

Add quick script to tag new release of workflow that uses corresponding actions #71

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rtyley mentioned this pull request Jul 4, 2025

Fix release-type input on push-release-commit #72

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Break workflow up: a reusable workflow using reusable actions #69

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	uses: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow/actions/init@break-workflow-up-into-smaller-reusable-files
	uses: guardian/gha-scala-library-release-workflow/actions/init@main

Break workflow up: a reusable workflow using reusable actions #69

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