Docker Github Actions Runner

This will run the new self-hosted github actions runners.

Quick-Start (Examples and Usage)

Please see the wiki Please read the contributing guidelines

Included software and configuration

While this project is not perfectly 1:1 with the software upstream, the included packages etc are available here. Documentation can be found in the wiki

Notes

Security

It is known that environment variables are not safe from exfiltration. If you are using this runner make sure that any workflow changes are gated by a verification process (in the actions settings) so that malicious PR's cannot exfiltrate these.

Docker Support

Please note that while this runner installs and allows docker, github actions itself does not support using docker from a self hosted runner yet. For more information:

Also, some GitHub Actions Workflow features, like Job Services, won't be usable and will result in an error.

Containerd Support

Currently runners do not support containerd

Docker Artifacts

Container Base	Supported Architectures	Tag Regex	Docker Tags	Description	Notes
ubuntu focal	`x86_64`,`arm64`	`/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+/` `/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+-ubuntu-focal/`	latest ubuntu-focal	This is the latest build (Rebuilt nightly and on master merges). Tags without an OS name are included. Tags with `-ubuntu-focal` are included and created on upstream tags.
ubuntu noble	`x86_64`,`arm64`	`/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+-ubuntu-noble/`	ubuntu-noble	This is the latest build from noble (Rebuilt nightly and on master merges). Tags with `-ubuntu-noble` are included and created on upstream tags.
ubuntu jammy	`x86_64`,`arm64`	`/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+-ubuntu-jammy/`	ubuntu-jammy	This is the latest build from jammy (Rebuilt nightly and on master merges). Tags with `-ubuntu-jammy` are included and created on upstream tags.	There is currently an issue with jammy from inside a 20.04LTS host which is why this is not `latest`
debian buster (now deprecated)	`x86_64`,`arm64`	`/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+-debian-buster/`	debian-buster	Debian buster is now deprecated. The packages for arm v7 are in flux and are wildly causing build failures (git as well as apt-key and liblttng-ust#. Tags with `-debian-buster` are included and created on upstream tags.
debian bookworm	`x86_64`,`arm64`	`/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+-debian-bookworm/`	debian-bookworm	This is the latest build from bookworm (Rebuilt nightly and on master merges). Tags with `-debian-bookworm` are included and created on upstream tags.
debian sid	`x86_64`,`arm64`	`/\d\.\d{3}\.\d+-debian-sid/`	debian-sid	This is the latest build from sid (Rebuilt nightly and on master merges). Tags with `-debian-sid` are included and created on upstream tags.

These containers are built via Github actions that copy the dockerfile, changing the FROM and building to provide simplicity.

Environment Variables

Environment Variable	Description
`RUN_AS_ROOT`	Boolean to run as root. If `true`: will run as root. If `True` and the user is overridden it will error. If any other value it will run as the `runner` user and allow an optional override. Default is `true`
`RUNNER_NAME`	The name of the runner to use. Supersedes (overrides) `RUNNER_NAME_PREFIX`
`RUNNER_NAME_PREFIX`	A prefix for runner name (See `RANDOM_RUNNER_SUFFIX` for how the full name is generated). Note: will be overridden by `RUNNER_NAME` if provided. Defaults to `github-runner`
`RANDOM_RUNNER_SUFFIX`	Boolean to use a randomized runner name suffix (preceded by `RUNNER_NAME_PREFIX`). Will use a 13 character random string by default. If set to a value other than true it will attempt to use the contents of `/etc/hostname` or fall back to a random string if the file does not exist or is empty. Note: will be overridden by `RUNNER_NAME` if provided. Defaults to `true`.
`ACCESS_TOKEN`	A github PAT to use to generate `RUNNER_TOKEN` dynamically at container start. Not using this requires a valid `RUNNER_TOKEN`
`APP_ID`	The github application ID. Must be paired with `APP_PRIVATE_KEY` and should not be used with `ACCESS_TOKEN` or `RUNNER_TOKEN`
`APP_PRIVATE_KEY`	The github application private key. Must be paired with `APP_ID` and should not be used with `ACCESS_TOKEN` or `RUNNER_TOKEN`
`APP_LOGIN`	The github application login id. Can be paired with `APP_ID` and `APP_PRIVATE_KEY` if default value extracted from `REPO_URL` or `ORG_NAME` is not correct. Note that no default is present when `RUNNER_SCOPE` is 'enterprise'.
`RUNNER_SCOPE`	The scope the runner will be registered on. Valid values are `repo`, `org` and `ent`. For 'org' and 'enterprise', `ACCESS_TOKEN` is required and `REPO_URL` is unnecessary. If 'org', requires `ORG_NAME`; if 'ent', requires `ENTERPRISE_NAME`. Default is 'repo'.
`ORG_NAME`	The organization name for the runner to register under. Requires `RUNNER_SCOPE` to be 'org'. No default value.
`ENTERPRISE_NAME`	The enterprise name for the runner to register under. Requires `RUNNER_SCOPE` to be 'enterprise'. No default value.
`LABELS`	A comma separated string to indicate the labels. Default is 'default'
`REPO_URL`	If using a non-organization runner this is the full repository url to register under such as 'https://github.com/myoung34/repo'
`RUNNER_TOKEN`	If not using a PAT for `ACCESS_TOKEN` this will be the runner token provided by the Add Runner UI (a manual process). Note: This token is short lived and will change frequently. `ACCESS_TOKEN` is likely preferred.
`RUNNER_WORKDIR`	The working directory for the runner. Runners on the same host should not share this directory. Default is '/_work'. This must match the source path for the bind-mounted volume at RUNNER_WORKDIR, in order for container actions to access files.
`RUNNER_GROUP`	Name of the runner group to add this runner to (defaults to the default runner group)
`GITHUB_HOST`	Optional URL of the Github Enterprise server e.g github.mycompany.com. Defaults to `github.com`.
`DISABLE_AUTOMATIC_DEREGISTRATION`	Optional flag to disable signal catching for deregistration. Default is `false`. Any value other than exactly `false` is considered `true`. See here
`CONFIGURED_ACTIONS_RUNNER_FILES_DIR`	Path to use for runner data. It allows avoiding reregistration each the start of the runner. No default value.
`EPHEMERAL`	Optional flag to configure runner with `--ephemeral` option. Ephemeral runners are suitable for autoscaling.
`DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE`	Optional environment variable to disable auto updates. Auto updates are enabled by default to preserve past behavior. Any value is considered truthy and will disable them.
`START_DOCKER_SERVICE`	Optional flag which automatically starts the docker service if set to `true`. Useful when using sysbox. Defaults to `false`.
`NO_DEFAULT_LABELS`	Optional environment variable to disable adding the default self-hosted, platform, and architecture labels to the runner. Any value is considered truthy and will disable them.
`DEBUG_ONLY`	Optional boolean to print debug output but not run any actual registration or runner commands. Used in CI and testing. Default: false
`DEBUG_OUTPUT`	Optional boolean to print additional debug output. Default: false
`UNSET_CONFIG_VARS`	Optional flag to unset all configuration environment variables after runner setup but before starting the runner. This prevents these variables from leaking into the workflow environment. Set to 'true' to enable. Defaults to 'false' for backward compatibility.

Tests

Tests are written in goss for general assertions. It's expected that all pull-requests have relevant assertions in order to be merged.

Prereqs: Ensure that docker, goss and dgoss are set up Note: while testing locally works, github actions will test all variations of operating systems and supported architectures.

The test file expects the image to test as an environment variable GH_RUNNER_IMAGE to assist in CI

To test:

$ # need to set minimum vars for the goss test interpolation
$ echo "os: ubuntu" >goss_vars.yaml
$ echo "oscodename: focal" >>goss_vars.yaml
$ echo "arch: x86_64" >>goss_vars.yaml
$ docker build -t my-base-test -f Dockerfile.base .
$ # Use the base image in your final
$ sed -i.bak 's/^FROM.*/FROM my-base-test/g' Dockerfile
$ docker build -t my-full-test -f Dockerfile .
$ # Run the full test from Dockerfile.base on the current git HEAD
$ GOSS_VARS=goss_vars.yaml GOSS_FILE=goss_full.yaml GOSS_SLEEP=1 dgoss run --entrypoint /usr/bin/sleep \
  -e DEBUG_ONLY=true \
  -e RUNNER_NAME=huzzah \
  -e REPO_URL=https://github.com/myoung34/docker-github-actions-runner \
  -e RUN_AS_ROOT=true \
  -e RUNNER_NAME_PREFIX=asdf \
  -e ACCESS_TOKEN=1234 \
  -e APP_ID=5678 \
  -e APP_PRIVATE_KEY=2345 \
  -e APP_LOGIN=SOMETHING \
  -e RUNNER_SCOPE=org \
  -e ORG_NAME=myoung34 \
  -e ENTERPRISE_NAME=emyoung34 \
  -e LABELS=blue,green \
  -e RUNNER_TOKEN=3456 \
  -e RUNNER_WORKDIR=/tmp/a \
  -e RUNNER_GROUP=wat \
  -e GITHUB_HOST=github.example.com \
  -e DISABLE_AUTOMATIC_DEREGISTRATION=true \
  -e EPHEMERAL=true \
  -e DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE=true \
  my-full-test 10