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Update misleading note in section-defining-outputs-for-jobs.md #33842

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@piotrekkr piotrekkr commented Jul 7, 2024

Why:

Because note about handling outputs when using strategy matrix is misleading and wrong in multiple places. Here is my overview of what is wrong:

  1. $GITHUB_OUTPUT is shared between all steps in a job. If you use the same output name in multiple steps, the last step to write to the output will override the value

    This is simply not true. Each step has it's own unique outputs file that it can write to. Next steps cannot override previous step outputs which is even show in usage example.

  2. If your job uses a matrix and writes to $GITHUB_OUTPUT, the content will be overwritten for each matrix combination.

    Using $GITHUB_OUTPUT does not override any job outputs. It can only set or override step outputs. Job need to define its own outputs and it can use steps context for this but this is not required for job outputs definition. Author of this note probably mixed step outputs with job outputs. Each job outputs inside matrix are combined, this is true, but author forgot to mention that last finished job in matrix will add new and override matching job outputs from all previous jobs.

  3. You can use the matrix context to create unique output names for each job configuration. For more information, see "AUTOTITLE."

    There is no way to use contexts within job outputs names. I tested it and always had an error from GitHub when trying to run workflow. Something like this is not allowed:

    jobs:
      job1:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
        outputs:
          output_${{ matrix.job }}: ${{ steps.gen_output.outputs.output_1 }}
        strategy:
          matrix:
            job: [1, 2, 3]
    
    

What's being changed (if available, include any code snippets, screenshots, or gifs):

I've changed the note content and added an example of how matrix job outputs are combined.

Check off the following:

  • I have reviewed my changes in staging, available via the View deployment link in this PR's timeline (this link will be available after opening the PR).

    • For content changes, you will also see an automatically generated comment with links directly to pages you've modified. The comment won't appear if your PR only edits files in the data directory.
  • For content changes, I have completed the self-review checklist.

@piotrekkr piotrekkr temporarily deployed to preview-env-33842 July 7, 2024 12:34 — with GitHub Actions Inactive
@github-actions github-actions bot added the triage Do not begin working on this issue until triaged by the team label Jul 7, 2024
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github-actions bot commented Jul 7, 2024

Automatically generated comment ℹ️

This comment is automatically generated and will be overwritten every time changes are committed to this branch.

The table contains an overview of files in the content directory that have been changed in this pull request. It's provided to make it easy to review your changes on the staging site. Please note that changes to the data directory will not show up in this table.


Content directory changes

You may find it useful to copy this table into the pull request summary. There you can edit it to share links to important articles or changes and to give a high-level overview of how the changes in your pull request support the overall goals of the pull request.

Source Preview Production What Changed
actions/using-jobs/defining-outputs-for-jobs.md fpt
ghec
ghes@ 3.13 3.12 3.11 3.10 3.9
fpt
ghec
ghes@ 3.13 3.12 3.11 3.10 3.9
from reusable
actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions.md fpt
ghec
ghes@ 3.13 3.12 3.11 3.10 3.9
fpt
ghec
ghes@ 3.13 3.12 3.11 3.10 3.9
from reusable

fpt: Free, Pro, Team
ghec: GitHub Enterprise Cloud
ghes: GitHub Enterprise Server

@piotrekkr piotrekkr marked this pull request as ready for review July 7, 2024 12:48
@nguyenalex836 nguyenalex836 added content This issue or pull request belongs to the Docs Content team actions This issue or pull request should be reviewed by the docs actions team waiting for review Issue/PR is waiting for a writer's review and removed triage Do not begin working on this issue until triaged by the team labels Jul 8, 2024
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@piotrekkr Thanks so much for opening a PR! I'll get this triaged for review ✨

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