Added .env file and github action to parse variables

.github/.env

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+BUILD_ARCHS=["i386", "amd64", "arm64", "armhf"]
+BUILD_DISTS=["noble", "jammy", "bookworm", "trixie"]
+BUILD_EXCLUDE=[ {"dist":"noble", "arch":"i386"}, {"dist":"jammy", "arch":"i386"} ]
+SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES=["ubuntu:jammy", "ubuntu:noble", "debian:bookworm", "debian:trixie"]

.github/actions/parse-env-file/action.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+name: "Parse env file"
+description: "Parses .env environment file and extracts all available fields as outputs"
+
+inputs:
+  env_file_path:
+    description: ".env file path"
+    default: '.github/.env'
+    required: false
+
+outputs:
+  BUILD_ARCHS:
+    description: "The extracted BUILD_DISTS from .env file"
+    value: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_ARCHS }}
+  BUILD_DISTS:
+    description: "The extracted BUILD_DISTS from .env file"
+    value: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_DISTS }}
+  BUILD_EXCLUDE:
+    description: "The extracted BUILD_EXCLUDE from .env file"
+    value: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
+  SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES:
+    description: "The extracted SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES from .env file"
+    value: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
+
+runs:
+  using: "composite"
+  steps:
+    - name: Checkout code
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4  
+
+    - name: Parse release handle
+      id: parse
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        cat "${{ inputs.env_file_path }}" | while IFS= read -r line || [[ -n "$line" ]]; do
+          [[ -z "$line" || "$line" =~ ^# ]] && continue
+          echo "$line" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        done 

.github/workflows/apt.yml

@@ -31,13 +31,29 @@ run-name: >-
         }}
 
 jobs:
+  populate-env-vars:
+    runs-on: ["ubuntu-latest"]
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Parse vars
+        id: parse
+        uses: ./.github/actions/parse-env-file
+    outputs:
+      BUILD_ARCHS: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_ARCHS }}
+      BUILD_DISTS: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_DISTS }}
+      BUILD_EXCLUDE: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
+      SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
+
   build-n-test:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/build-n-test-all-distros.yml
+    needs: populate-env-vars
     with:
-      BUILD_DISTS: ${{ vars.BUILD_DISTS }}
-      BUILD_ARCHS: ${{ vars.BUILD_ARCHS }}
-      BUILD_EXCLUDE: ${{ vars.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
-      SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES: ${{ vars.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
+      BUILD_DISTS: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.BUILD_DISTS }}
+      BUILD_ARCHS: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.BUILD_ARCHS }}
+      BUILD_EXCLUDE: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
+      SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
       # Determine whether we should use special "unstable" release_tag. Assume
       # that for unstable branch and for any external call, dispatch or schedule
       # we are building unstable release. In other cases it's a regular PR/push

.github/workflows/release_build_and_test.yml

@@ -45,14 +45,31 @@ jobs:
           release_version_branch: ${{ steps.ensure-branch.outputs.release_version_branch }}
           release_type: ${{ github.event.inputs.release_type }}
 
+  populate-env-vars:
+    runs-on: ["ubuntu-latest"]
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Parse vars
+        id: parse
+        uses: ./.github/actions/parse-env-file
+    outputs:
+      BUILD_ARCHS: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_ARCHS }}
+      BUILD_DISTS: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_DISTS }}
+      BUILD_EXCLUDE: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
+      SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES: ${{ steps.parse.outputs.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
+
   build-n-test:
-    needs: prepare-release
+    needs: 
+      - prepare-release
+      - populate-env-vars
     uses: ./.github/workflows/build-n-test-all-distros.yml
     with:
-      BUILD_DISTS: ${{ vars.BUILD_DISTS }}
-      BUILD_ARCHS: ${{ vars.BUILD_ARCHS }}
-      BUILD_EXCLUDE: ${{ vars.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
-      SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES: ${{ vars.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
+      BUILD_DISTS: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.BUILD_DISTS }}
+      BUILD_ARCHS: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.BUILD_ARCHS }}
+      BUILD_EXCLUDE: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.BUILD_EXCLUDE }}
+      SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES: ${{ needs.populate-env-vars.outputs.SMOKE_TEST_IMAGES }}
       release_tag: ${{ inputs.release_tag }}
 
   create-release-handle: