Configure executable action

👨‍💻 Write your GitHub Action in any language that compiles to a binary

# action.yml runs: using: executable main: windows-x64: .out/main-windows-amd64.exe macos-x64: .out/main-darwin-amd64 macos-arm64: .out/main-darwin-arm64 linux-x64: .out/main-linux-amd64 linux-arm64: .out/main-linux-arm64

Usage

# action.yml
runs:
  using: executable
  main:
    windows-x64: main-windows.exe
    linux-x64: main-linux
    macos-x64: main-macos

# .github/workflows/publish-action.yml
name: publish-action
on:
  release:
    types: released
jobs:
  publish-action:
    permissions:
      contents: write
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: |
          GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build main.go -o main-windows.exe
          GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build main.go -o main-linux
          GOOS=darwin GOARCH=amd64 go build main.go -o main-macos
      - uses: jcbhmr/configure-executable-action@v1
      - uses: jcbhmr/update-release@v1
      - uses: actions/publish-action@v0.2.2
        with:
          source-tag: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}

If you have a Bash-like script with a shebang like #!/bin/bash that can run on all platforms (Windows uses Git Bash to interpret the #!) you can just specify a main: main.sh instead of a map.

# action.yml
runs:
  using: executable
  main: main.sh

How it works

We add some _main.mjs/_pre.mjs/_post.mjs wrapper files and edit the action.yml file to use those _*.mjs files using the Node.js runtime. Then, those _*.mjs files just spawn() the appropriate executable for the current OS/architecture. All the INPUT_* and GITHUB_* environment variables are passed through untouched.

1. You edit some code.
2. You create a new release like v1.2.3. The v1 tag still points to v1.2.2. No users are using the v1.2.3 tag yet.
3. GitHub workflow triggers on that release. Still no users are using the v1.2.3 tag. The "New version released" notification is in the process of being sent now.
4. jcbhmr/configure-executable-action and jcbhmr/update-release are run updating the commit that the released tag points to to be the commit that includes the compiled binaries. No users are using the v1.2.3 tag yet.
5. actions/publish-action is run which updates the v1 tag to point to the v1.2.3 tag. Now users are using the new version which now includes the compiled binaries.