actions

You can now run Java projects faster on GitHub Actions by enabling dependency caching on the setup-java action. setup-java supports caching for both Gradle and Maven projects.

The following example enables caching for a Java project with Gradle:

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- uses: actions/setup-java@v2
  with:
    distribution: 'temurin'
    java-version: '11'
    cache: 'gradle'
- run: ./gradlew build

For additional examples, visit the setup-java repository.

Previously, actions written in YAML could only use scripts. Now, they can also reference other actions. This makes it easy to reduce duplication in your workflows.

For example, the following action uses 3 actions to setup buildx, log in to Docker, and publish an image. By combining these into a single action it provides a larger unit of reuse that you can put into the job of any workflow.

name: "Publish to Docker"
description: "Pushes built artifacts to Docker"

inputs:
  registry_username:
    description: “Username for image registry”
    required: true
  registry_password:
    description: “Password for image registry”
    required: true

runs:
  using: "composite"
  steps:
      - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1

      - uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{inputs.registry_username}}
          password: ${{inputs.registry_password}}

      - uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: user/app:latest

Developers can then reference this action in all of their repositories as a single action:

on: [push]

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: my-org/publish-docker@v1
        with:
          registry_username: ${{secrets.REGISTRY_USERNAME}}
          registry_password: ${{secrets.REGISTRY_PASSWORD}}

Learn more about action composition.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

Windows Server 2022 with Visual Studio 2022 Preview is now available in beta on GitHub-hosted runners. Use it by putting runs-on: windows-2022 in your workflow file.

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-2022
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v1
      - name: Build
        run: dotnet build
      - name: Run tests
        run: dotnet test

The Windows Server 2022 runner image has different tools and tool versions than Windows Server 2019.

Read more on available runner images and beta images terms of use in docs.

macOS 11 Big Sur is now generally available on GitHub-hosted runners. Use GitHub Actions to build and publish apps for the latest Apple ecosystem by updating your workflows to include runs-on: macos-11

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: macos-11
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Build
        run: swift build
      - name: Run tests
        run: swift test

The macOS 11 Big Sur runner image has different tools and tool versions than macOS 10.15 Catalina. See the full list of changed software.

If you spot any issues with your workflows when using Big Sur, please let us know by creating an issue in the virtual-environments repository.

The Audit Log now includes events associated with GitHub Actions self-hosted runners. This data provides enterprise customers with an expanded data set for security and compliance audits.

New events will be incorporated into the audit log when:

• A self-hosted runner application has started and can begin processing new jobs
• A self-hosted runner application has stopped and will no longer process jobs

These new events are only available to customers on the Enterprise plan and can be viewed using the REST API.

Learn more about Audit Log events

For questions please visit the GitHub Actions community forum

You can now run Node.js projects faster on GitHub Actions by enabling dependency caching on the setup-node action. setup-node supports caching from both npm and yarn package managers.

- uses: actions/setup-node@v2
  with:
    node-version: '14'
    cache: npm

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

Today we are making environments, environment protection rules, and environment secrets generally available.

Learn more about environments

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap

Starting June 16 2021, GitHub-hosted Ubuntu runners will only contain the latest patch release for each supported version of the .NET SDK.

You will not be affected if you use setup-dotnet action. However, If you use a global.json file with a rollForward: disable property, your workflow will fail. To continue using .NET SDK, change your workflow to use setup-dotnet action or use some other value for rollForward property.

The setup-dotnet action is the recommended way of using .NET with GitHub Actions because it ensures consistent behavior for your workflow runs and allows you specify exactly which version your code needs. For more information please see the GitHub Actions documentation and subscribe to the announcement in the actions/virtual-environments repository.

As part of our ongoing efforts to keep the hosted actions runners updated and secure, the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS virtual environment will be removed from GitHub Actions on September 20, 2021. For workflows using ubuntu-16.04, you will need to update your workflow files to run on ubuntu-latest which will run on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS environment instead.

To help make sure all affected customers are aware of this change, we will temporarily suspend workflows on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS environment for two short 'brownout' periods ahead of the final removal. Builds that are scheduled to run during the brownout periods will fail. Therefore it is recommended that you should plan to move to a supported version of Ubuntu before September 6, 2021. The brownouts are scheduled for the following dates and times:

• September 6, 2021 5:00pm UTC – 10:00pm UTC
• September 14, 2021 5:00pm UTC – 10:00pm UTC

You can learn more about our software and image guidelines for GitHub-hosted runners in the virtual environment repository. Please contact support if you experience any issues due to this change.

GitHub Actions now supports a concurrency key at both the workflow and job level that will ensure that only a single run or job is in progress.

There are a number of scenarios where you only want a single instance of a particular workflow or job running at any given time. For example: if you have a deployment to your production environment ensuring that only a single deployment is happening at any given time and that you are always deploying the latest code can be important. The concurrency key can be any string or an expression using the github context. When a job or run starts it first checks to see if anything is currently holding on to the concurrency group specified. If not, it will start. If there is a lock on the group, the job or run will be marked as pending and will only start after the blocking job or run completes.

Learn more about concurrency groups in GitHub Actions

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap