GitHub Actions to Compile Go Programs

Automatically compile and test a simple Go program using GitHub Actions whenever changes are pushed or a pull request is created to the main branch. The action installs Go, compiles the Go code, and runs the resulting program, ensuring it functions as expected without manual intervention.

Usage

1. Clone the Repository

To get started, clone this repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/BaseMax/github-actions-compile-golang.git

2. GitHub Action Setup

The GitHub Action is configured to automatically compile the Go program every time a change is pushed to the main branch or a pull request is created.

Create a new file in the .github/workflows directory:

File name: c-compile.yml
Action Setup: The action is defined in the c-compile.yml file, which runs the following steps:
- Checkout code using the actions/checkout@v3 action.
- Install Golang compiler using the apt-get package manager on Ubuntu.
- Compile the Go program using go build -o my_program main.go.
- Run the compiled program and ensure that it works.

3. Example Go Program

The program compiled in this repository is a simple Go program that calculates the factorial of a number.

Example Go Program (main.go):

package main

import "fmt"

func factorial(n int) int {
    if n == 0 {
        return 1
    }
    return n * factorial(n-1)
}

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello, GitHub Actions!")

    num := 5
    fmt.Printf("Factorial of %d is %d\n", num, factorial(num))
}

4. Running the GitHub Action

Whenever you push to the main branch or create a pull request, the GitHub Action will automatically:

Check out the code.
Set up the Golang compiler.
Compile the program.
Run the program to verify that the compilation was successful.
You can view the results of the action under the Actions tab of the GitHub repository.

GitHub Action Workflow

The workflow for compiling the C program is defined in the .github/workflows/c-compile.yml file.

name: Compile and Test Go Program

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Set up Go
        uses: actions/setup-go@v3
        with:
          go-version: '1.24.0'

      - name: Compile Go program
        run: go build -o my_program main.go

      - name: Run tests
        run: |
          if ./my_program; then
            echo "Test Passed"
          else
            echo "Test Failed"
            exit 1
          fi

Workflow Explanation:

Checkout code: The actions/checkout action checks out the code from the repository.
Set up Go compiler: Installs Golang compiler to compile the Go program.
Compile Go program: The go build command compiles the main.go file into an executable named my_program.
Run tests: The program is run, and if the execution is successful, it outputs "Test Passed"; otherwise, it outputs "Test Failed" and exits with a failure code.

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute to this project, feel free to fork the repository, create a pull request with your changes, and submit it for review.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Max Base, 2025