GitHub Actions Reuse Workflow Definitions - scala

Question

I have a project where I have two GitHub actions yml file where the first file is called build.yml and it contains instructions to compile, build and test the project. It is as simple as this:
name: build my-project
on:
push:
paths-ignore:
- 'images/**'
- README.md
branches:
- master
pull_request:
branches:
- master
release:
types: [ created ]
env:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: cache ivy2
uses: actions/cache#v1
with:
path: ~/.ivy2/cache
key: ${{ runner.os }}-sbt-ivy-cache-${{ hashFiles('**/*.sbt') }}-${{ hashFiles('project/build.properties') }}
- name: sbt Test
run: sbt clean test
I now have another yml file that contains the instructions to do a release based on annotated tags. It is like this:
name: release my-project
on:
push:
# Sequence of patterns matched against refs/tags
tags:
- 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+-[a-zA-Z]*'
env:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
jobs:
build:
uses: ./.github/workflows/build.yml
publish:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: test # See build.yml file where the test job is defined
# If there is a tag and if that tag comes from master branch
if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')
steps:
- name: checkout
uses: actions/checkout#v3
- name: capture changelog
id: changelog
uses: metcalfc/changelog-generator#v4.0.1
with:
myToken: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
- name: sbt ci-publish-github
run: sbt publish
- name: ci-release-github
id: create-release
uses: actions/create-release#latest
with:
allowUpdates: true
tag_name: ${{ github.ref }}
release_name: Release ${{ github.ref }}
body: |
## What's Changed
${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changelog }}
draft: false
prerelease: false
I just created an annotated tag which then resulted in an error like this:
Invalid workflow file: .github/workflows/publish.yml#L14
error parsing called workflow "./.github/workflows/build.yml": workflow is not reusable as it is missing a `on.workflow_call` trigger
So basically what I want is, when I push an annotated tag, I want to first run the test job from build.yml and then once that succeeds, I would like to run the publish job. Any suggestions on how to get this straight?

Answer 1

So basically what I want is, when I push an annotated tag, I want to first run the test job from build.yml and then once that succeeds, I would like to run the publish job. Any suggestions on how to get this straight?
You almost got it right with your implementation. You just need a few modifications:
The build job needs to depends on the publish job:
name: release my-project
on:
push:
# Sequence of patterns matched against refs/tags
tags:
- 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+-[a-zA-Z]*'
jobs:
publish:
[ ... ]
build:
needs:
- publish
uses: ./.github/workflows/build.yml
The build needs the workflow_call trigger (as stated by the error message - Reference):
on:
workflow_call:
push:
[ ... ]
Note: You could even share the tag value from the previous workflow, sending it as input to the second one by using:
on:
workflow_call:
inputs:
tag:
required: true
type: string
Calling the reusable workflow that way from the main workflow:
build:
needs:
- publish
uses: ./.github/workflows/build.yml
with:
tag: 'MY TAG'

Answer 2

I was able to fix it by adding the following in my publish.yml:
jobs:
tests:
uses: ./.github/workflows/build.yml
publish:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: [tests] # See build.yml file where the test job is defined
In my build.yml, I had to add the following:
on:
push:
paths-ignore:
- 'images/**'
- README.md
branches:
- master
pull_request:
branches:
- master
release:
types: [ created ]
workflow_call:
Notice that workflow_call: entry that needs to be added explicitly.