Documentation on the impact of a "Dummy commit"

[jackdomleo7]

Hi, this could be what a lot of people are looking for!

I think it would be really beneficial to add some documentation on the pros and cons of the dummy commit. There may not be any cons but always good to reassure your users. 😊

[gautamkrishnar]

There is no cons for doing dummy commits. It won't change any file it just creates an empty git entry.

[gautamkrishnar]

On the plus side this dummy commit will keep your cron based triggers running. I hope that instructions on the readme is enough for most people to find this project. Feel free to improve the documentation if you have any ideas. @jackdomleo7

[jackdomleo7]

Maybe it was just me getting confused. I think the documentation is fine for now. I'll close the issue. Thanks for the response!

[liskin]

There is no cons for doing dummy commits. It won't change any file it just creates an empty git entry.

Which creates noise in git history and makes the project seem more active than it truly is. Not exactly "no cons", IMO.

I mean, most people probably don't care, but if anyone does, there is an alternative that doesn't use dummy commits: https://github.com/liskin/gh-workflow-keepalive

[gautamkrishnar]

@liskin 👍🏻 thanks, that also looks like a good approach. When I wrote this action, there was no such API. Btw have you tested it in the long term (60 days)? Is it keeping the workflow alive?

[liskin]

Yeah, I've been using that snippet for over 2 years now - xmonad/X11@a416159

[gautamkrishnar]

Thanks for confirming @liskin, this is a good approach. I will also make it a part of this workflow and provide APIs to opt into this approach.

[gautamkrishnar]

Just released a new version with API Keeplaive.