Using github packages without personal access token? - github

The project I'm working on currently deploys our private node packages via github packages. Our current workflow is for each developer to create and maintain their own personal access token, and then we use a central account's PAT for automation in AWS.
I was wondering if it's possible to authenticate with github packages without the use of Actions or PAT's?

As of 2022-07-30
No, it is not possible to use github packages without a personal access token (PAT):
It is not possible to upload without a PAT (which makes sense as it prevents random people to upload binaries to your package repo);
It is not possible to download without a PAT (not even publicly available packages can be used);
As early as 2019-10-20, people have requested github to remove PATs as a requirement for mainly downloading public packages.
The idea is that users of libraries should not need to have a github account to access a developer's package.
Sadly, the request for pat-less package downloads was not granted by Github to this day.
If you want a package registry without a hassle, it might be wise to look for other registries, such as MavenCentral or JitPack (not necessarily meant for node packages),
or host a service yourself.
I even had to link a cached webpage, as the original question has been removed from Github community along with a bunch of related questions.
Another question on github, stating pat-less access to packages is still on the roadmap for "fall 2021" is here.
I could not find what the current status of this feature is.
Edit: It is possible to download binaries without a PAT for public repositories using jitpack.io. Jitpack builds the given jar/aar on their servers.
You can add jitpack as a repository to your build system, and use the jitpack-specified URL to reference releases, branches, or specific commits.
Sadly, there is no way to refer to packages (yet).
However, this system allows your users to use your code without needing PATs nor a Github account.

I'd like to offer an alternative.
You may use a Gradle plugin of mine (magik, I was exactly in your shoes) to easier the consumption of artifacts from your Github Packages for Gradle clients.
It require you to save your read-only PAT on the repo itself, so that the users don't have to deal with any authentication (apart using the plugin above mentioned)

Related

How to identify who published a package to GitHub package registry?

My organization has a paid version of GitHub. Hence, we have private repositories and we can publish GitHub packages.
Unfortunately, I do not know who published the package. It is only possible to know when it was published.
Context: this is especially relevant because traditionally packages were being published by a person and, now, I am creating continuous delivery via GitHub Actions so that packages will be automatically published after a certain file that holds the project version is changed.
Is there any way to find out on GitHub Packages who published the package?
There's no way to know that directly from the package itself - it only has the owner.
One way to do it will be to disable all current tokens that allow the publishing of the package and force everyone to go through the CI workflow.
So instead of publishing the API, they will be forced to trigger a certain workflow that does it for them through the "bot token".
That will allow you to see who triggered a workflow for a certain version.

Why does GitLab need full access read and write permissions when importing a GitHub repo?

I just signed up for GitLab, after learning about this cool feature where you can import your GitHub repositories and keep the two in sync. The import feature seems simple enough, but I paused when I got to the step where I authorize GitLab to my GitHub account. Why does it need so many permissions? Some make sense to me, others not so much. Specifically:
Personal user data
Full access
This application will be able to read and write all user data. This
includes the following:
Private email addresses
Private profile information
Followers
I understand why it needs to read and write to all public and private repository data. It's moving all that data to GitLab, and it needs to write to keep it in sync. What I don't understand is why it needs write permissions to my email and profile information?
I know that GitLab is a reputable company that didn't just pop up yesterday, but I am still wary when giving full access permissions to any service. If someone could help me understand, that would be appreciated.
You have two options when migrating a repository from GitHub to GitLab. You can migrate using only the url, in which case what you’ll have on GitLab is more similar to what you’d get if you simply added an additional remote in the repo - the full repo will be there, but everything specific to GitHub - the pull requests, comments, issues, etc, as well as all users tagged or participating - will be lost.
Alternatively, you can use the GitHub importer. This option fully migrates the GitHub repo to GitLab, setting up the GitLab equivalents of GitHub features (pull requests become merge requests, etc.). And part of this involves assigning users to each comment, mention, PR, etc.
From the gitlab docs:
When issues and pull requests are being imported, the importer attempts to find their GitHub authors and assignees in the database of the GitLab instance. Pull requests are called merge requests in GitLab.
For this association to succeed, each GitHub author and assignee in the repository must meet one of the following conditions prior to the import:
Have previously logged in to a GitLab account using the GitHub icon.
Have a GitHub account with a public-facing email address that matches their GitLab account’s email address.
GitLab content imports that use GitHub accounts require that the GitHub public-facing email address is populated. This means all comments and contributions are properly mapped to the same user in GitLab. GitHub Enterprise does not require this field to be populated so you may have to add it on existing accounts.
So yes, these are required if you want the full GitHub mirror or migration. If you just want the git repo contents, use the import from url tool, and the requirements will be much less extensive.

Serve public executable from private GitHub repository?

I'm a contractor developing an app for a client and the code and exes are stored in a private github repository. They plan to sell the app through a WordPress-based store. I assumed or thought I read somewhere that files could be hosted on GitHub and in my tests it seemed to work – except it only worked because I was logged in to GitHub, with access to the private repo.
Is there some setting or "feature" on GitHub which will allow us to link to an exe (or zip) from another site or from a link in a "purchase confirmation" type email?
I've seen Hosting executable on github but it is quite old now and not really about private repos.
GitHub does allow you to host release assets as part of a release based on a tag, but these assets are controlled with the permissions of the repository. If the repository is public, then the release assets will also be public; if it is private, then they will also be private, with the same permissions of the repository.
If what you're trying to do is use GitHub with a custom access control system to allow only people who have purchased the software to download it, then that's not possible, and you'll need to set up your own server with the binaries. GitHub provides release assets so that folks can distribute binaries and other compiled stuff without needing to check them in, but it's not designed to be your CDN or web store.

Use Github Package Registry without authtoken

In my node project I would like to use both NPM and Github registries. The reason is that I use some packages as request or async, but I've made my own packages which are stored on Github Packges Registry.
I've tried to add #USERNAME:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com/ in .npmrc, but I still need an authtoken. There is the problem: as it's for a continuous integration I don't want to use a token linked to a specific user.
So what could I do ?
Edit: I'm using Circle CI for my workflows.
You can use the default GITHUB_TOKEN associated with the repository that your workflow runs in.
If you are using a GitHub Actions workflow, you can use a GITHUB_TOKEN to publish and consume packages in the GitHub Package Registry without needing to store and manage a personal access token.
ref: https://help.github.com/en/github/managing-packages-with-github-package-registry/configuring-npm-for-use-with-github-package-registry#authenticating-to-github-package-registry
If you are not using GitHub Actions and running your build in a different CI tool then I don't think you have any choice but to use a Personal Access Token tied to a user account.

Can Gitlab expose build and coverage badges to anonymous users?

We are hosting some repository on GitHub, some other on GitLab.
Sometimes, the package is published but not the source code.
We always display build status and code coverage in README.md.
Is there a way to have build and coverage badge on GitLab always accessible to anonymous?
Since release 11.4.8 of Gitlab it's not possible to expose project's Badges through a Personnal Access Token anymore. Because of the change "
Restrict Personal Access Tokens to API scope on web requests."
The commit that removed this "workaround" was published as a security fix
An ongoing issue is currently being discussed to find another solution. Let's see how it goes.
That was followed by issue 13324
It includes:
FYI, I have a workaround for this using the GitLab API.
It assumes you have created a token in GitLab for a user (Note: That "user" needn't necessarily be Human - my use case is to display a badge on a dashboard hosted on a different VM).
<img src="https://<gitlab-uri>/<namespace>/<project>/badges/<branch>/build.svg?private_token=<token>
Update Dec. 2018: This is no loger possible through a token (see Paul B.'s answer).
This is because of "Improper Enforcement of Token Scope":
The GitLab web interface was vulnerable to an authorization issue that allowed access to the web-UI as a user using their Personal Access Token (PAT) of any scope.
The issue is now mitigated in the latest release and is assigned CVE-2018-19569.
But...:
Updated: 2018-11-28: We have received reports that this change has impacted how repo files and job artifacts are downloaded for some users.
For instructions on how to do so through the API, please see our support issue.
And you also have a current workaround which repeats the API access:
It is possible to add the project avatar to the project repository with a particular filename (logo) and then this file will be used for the avatar. There is an example here:
https://gitlab.com/issue-reproduce/project-avatar-repo
You'll be able to retrieve the files through the Repository Files API:
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/repository_files.html#get-file-from-repository
Example:
https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/issue-reproduce%2Fproject-avatar-repo/repository/files/logo.png?ref=master