How to execute a a remote script in a reusable github workflow - github

Question

I have this workflow in a repo called terraform-do-database and I'm trying to use a reusable workflow coming from the public repo foo/git-workflows/.github/workflows/tag_validation.yaml#master
name: Tag Validation
on:
pull_request:
branches: [master]
push:
branches:
- '*' # matches every branch that doesn't contain a '/'
- '*/*' # matches every branch containing a single '/'
- '**' # matches every branch
- '!master' # excludes master
# Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
tag_check:
uses: foo/git-workflows/.github/workflows/tag_validation.yaml#master
And this is the reusable workflow file from the public git-workflows repo that has the script that should run on it. What is happening is that the workflow is trying to use a script inside the repo terraform-do-database
name: Tag Validation
on:
pull_request:
branches: [master]
workflow_call:
jobs:
tag_check:
# The type of runner that the job will run on
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
# Steps represent a sequence of tasks that will be executed as part of the job
steps:
# Checks-out your repository under $GITHUB_WORKSPACE, so your job can access it
- uses: actions/checkout#v3
# Runs a single command using the runners shell
- name: Verify the tag value
run: ./scripts/tag_verify.sh
So the question: How can I make the workflow use the script stored in the git-worflows repo instead of the terraform-do-database?
I want to have a single repo where I can call the workflow and the scripts, I don't want to have everything duplicated inside all my repos.

Answer 1

I have found that if I wrap the script into a composite action. I can use GitHub context github.action_path to locate the scripts.
Example:
run: ${{ github.action_path }}/scripts/foo.sh

Answer 2

One way to go about this is perform a checkout inside your reusable workflow that essentially clones the content of the repo where your scripts are and only then you can access it. It's not the cleanest solution but it works.
Perform a second checkout, to clone your repo that has the reusable workflow into a dir reusable-workflow-repo
- name: Checkout reusable workflow dir
uses: actions/checkout#v3
with:
repository: <your-org>/terraform-do-database
token: ${{ secrets.GIT_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
path: reusable-workflow-repo
Now you have all the code you need inside reusable-workflow-repo. Use ${GITHUB_WORKSPACE} to find the current path and simply append the path to the script.
- name: Verify the tag value
run: ${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/reusable-workflow-repo/scripts/tag_verify.sh

Answer 3

I was able to solve it adding a few more commands to manually download the script and execute it.
steps:
# Checks-out your repository under $GITHUB_WORKSPACE, so your job can access it
- uses: actions/checkout#v3
# Runs a single command using the runners shell
- name: Check current directory
run: pwd
- name: Download the script
run: curl -o $PWD/tag_verify.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/foo/git-workflows/master/scripts/tag_verify.sh
- name: Give script permissions
run: chmod +x $PWD/tag_verify.sh
- name: Execute script
run: $PWD/tag_verify.sh

Answer 4

Following Kaleby Cadorin example but for the case where the script is in a private repository
- name: Download & run script
run: |
curl --header "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.MY_PAT }}" \
--header 'Accept: application/vnd.github.raw' \
--remote-name \
--location https://raw.githubusercontent.com/COMPANY/REPO/BRANCH/PATH/script.sh
chmod +x script.sh
./script.sh
Note: GITHUB_TOKEN doesn't seem to work here, a PAT is required.

Answer 5

According to this thread on github-community the script needs to be downloaded/checked out separatly.
The "reusable" workflow you posted is not reusable in this sense, because since it is not downloading the script the workflow can only run within its own repository (or a repository that already has the script).