/reusable

reusable

buildInfo

This reusable workflow, BuildInfo, gathers and processes metadata such as pull request information, repository name, branch details, and git tags. It produces a set of outputs that can be used in downstream jobs, such as generating release notes or making decisions based on branch names and release tags.

Inputs

This workflow does not currently require any explicit inputs from the caller. It operates based on environment variables provided by GitHub Actions, such as pull request data and branch names.

Outputs

Here are the outputs that this workflow generates and makes available to the calling workflow:

  • PR_NUMBER: number of pull request triggering the workflow (if applicable).
  • PR_AUTHOR: github username of the author of the pull request.
  • REPO_NAME: name of the repository.
  • CODE_OWNER: first code owner listed in caller workflow .github/CODEOWNERS file. The assumption is the this used in a non-org repo with 1 code owner.
  • BRANCH_NAME: name of the source branch for the workflow (supports both pull requests and push events).
  • VERSION_NUMBER: version extracted from the branch name; expected format:release/vmajor.minor.patch or hotfix/vmajor.minor.patch).
  • RELEASE_TITLE: release title, typically a combination of the repository name and the latest release tag.
  • NEWEST_TAG: most recently merged git tag.
  • NEWEST_TAG_PRESENT: boolean indicating whether a newest tag is found (true) or not (false).
  • OLDEST_TAG: oldest merged git tag.
  • OLDEST_TAG_PRESENT: boolean indicating whether an oldest tag is found (true) or not (false).
  • LAST_RELEASE_TAG: most recent release tag from GitHub.
  • LAST_RELEASE_TAG_PRESENT: boolean indicating whether a last release tag is found (true) or not (false).
Usage

To use this workflow in another workflow, you can reference it like this:

jobs:
  build:
    uses: owner/repoName/.github/workflows/buildyaml@main
    with:
      # No explicit inputs needed

Then, in your caller workflow, you can access the outputs from the BuildInfo workflow using the needs context:

- name: Use Build Info
 run: |
   echo "Branch Name: ${{ needs.build-info.outputs.BRANCH_NAME }}"
   echo "PR Number: ${{ needs.build-info.outputs.PR_NUMBER }}"
   echo "Newest Tag: ${{ needs.build-info.outputs.NEWEST_TAG }}"
Key Considerations
  • Branch Name Validation: This workflow expects branch names to follow the pattern release/vmajor.minor.patch or hotfix/vmajor.minor.patch. It will fail if this pattern is not matched.
  • GitHub Token: If you are using steps that interact with the GitHub API (e.g., gh release list), ensure that GITHUB_TOKEN is properly provided in the caller workflow’s environment.
  • CODEOWNERS File: Ensure your repository has a .github/CODEOWNERS file if you rely on the CODE_OWNER output.
  • Tag Management: This workflow fetches git tags, so make sure your tags are correctly set up and that git fetch --tags works as expected.