Github Release create, update, and upload assets

meeDamian/github-release

Github Action to create and update Github Releases, as well as upload assets to them.

Usage

Minimal

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v1

- uses: meeDamian/github-release@1.0
  with:
    token: ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}

token is the only always required parameter to be passed to this action. Everything else can use sane defaults in some circumstances. See arguments to learn more.

Arguments

All inputs are available as a normal Action input, but because Github Actions don't accept shell variables there, some are also available as an Environment Variable set beforehand. When both set, one set as input takes precedence.

name	ENV var alternative	required	description
`token`	-	always	Github Access token. Can be accessed by using `${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}` in the workflow file.
`tag`	`RELEASE_TAG`	sometimes	If triggered by git tag push, tag is picked up automatically. Otherwise `tag:` has to be set. For tags constructed dynamically, use `RELEASE_TAG` env var.
`commitish`	-	no	Commit hash this release should point to. Unnecessary, if `tag` is a git tag. Otherwise, current `master` is used. more
`name`	`RELEASE_NAME`	no	Place to name the release, the more creative, the better. Defaults to the name of the tag used. more
`body`	-	no	Place to put a longer description of the release, ex changelog, or info about contributors. Defaults to the commit message of the reference commit. more
`draft`	-	no	Set to `true` to create a release, but not publish it. `false` by default. more
`prerelease`	-	no	Marks this release as a pre-release. `false` by default. more
`files`	`RELEASE_FILES`	no	A space-separated list of files to be uploaded. When left empty, no files are uploaded. More on files below
`gzip`	-	no	Set whether to `gzip` uploaded assets, or not. Available options are: `true`, `false`, and `folders` which uploads files unchanged, but compresses directories/folders. Defaults to `true`. Note: it errors if set to `false`, and `files:` argument contains path to a directory.
`allow_override`	-	no	Allow override of release, if one with the same tag already exists. Defaults to `false`

Using ENV vars

In a step before this action, run ex:

steps:
    ...
    - name: Set enviroment for github-release
      run: |
        echo ::set-env name=RELEASE_TAG::"v1.0.0"
        echo ::set-env name=RELEASE_NAME::"${GITHUB_WORKFLOW}"

    - uses: meeDamian/github-release@1.0
      with:
        token: ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}
    ...

To learn more about notation used above see this.

Files syntax

In it's simplest form it takes a single file/folder to be compressed & uploaded:

with:
  …
  files: release/

Each uploaded element can also be named by prefixing the path to it with: <name>:, example:

with:
  …
  files: release-v1.0.0:release/

As of Aug 2019, Github Actions doesn't support list arguments to actions, so to pass multiple files, pass them as a space-separated string. To do that in an easier to read way, YAML multiline syntax can be used, example:

with:
  …
  files: >
    release-v1.0.0-linux:release/linux/
    release-v1.0.0-mac:release/darwin/
    release-v1.0.0-windows:release/not-supported-notice
    checksums.txt

Advanced example

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@master

- uses: meeDamian/github-release@0.1
  with:
    token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    tag: v1.3.6
    name: My Creative Name
    body: >
      This release actually changes the fabric of the reality, so be careful 
      while applying, as error in database migration, can irrecoverably wipe 
      some laws of physics.  
    gzip: folders
    files: >
      Dockerfile
      action.yml
     .github/
      license:LICENSE
      work-flows:.github/

Versioning

As of Aug 2019, Github Actions doesn't natively understand shortened tags in uses: directive.

To go around that and not do what git-tag-manual calls "The insane thing", I'm creating permanent git tags for each release in a semver format prefixed with v, as well as maintain branches with shortened tags. You can see the exact process here.

Ex. 1.4 branch always points to the newest v1.4.x tag, etc.

In practice:

# For exact version
steps:
  uses: meeDamian/github-release@v1.0.1

Or

# For newest minor version 1.0
steps:
  uses: meeDamian/github-release@1.0

Note: It's likely branches will be deprecated once Github Actions fixes its limitation.

License

The scripts and documentation in this project are released under the MIT License

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Github Release create, update, and upload assets