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GitHub Actions – Updates to GITHUB_REF and github.ref

We have implemented a fix so that GITHUB_REF and the github.ref context value return a fully-formed ref (e.g – refs/heads/main) when a workflow is triggered as a result of a pull request being merged. This change only impacts a small subset of workflows that trigger as a result of a pull request closing after being merged and that make use of GITHUB_REF or github.ref.

Previously, GITHUB_REF and github.ref were incorrectly returning a shortened ref (e.g. – main). These should always return a fully-formed ref regardless of the scenario.

Please visit our documentation for more details about using Actions context and variables.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community.

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap.

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Dual Static IP ranges for GitHub-hosted Larger runners

GitHub-hosted larger runners now support dual IP ranges when configured with Static IPs for the GitHub Enterprise Cloud plan.

Static IP enables Enterprise Cloud customers to choose whether a static IP address range will be assigned to their larger runner instances. This provides a fixed IP address range that can be added to your allow list for access to internal systems and can be used in conjunction with GitHub’s IP allow list to enable hosted actions runners and IP allow listing at the same time.

With dual IP ranges, larger runner instances will now receive two IP ranges instead of a single range. This enables runners to scale beyond the previously existing 500 concurrency limit. Additionally, the two IP ranges are created in different geographical locations, providing resiliency against regional outages.

Getting started

For newly created larger runner instances with the Static IP feature, 2 IP ranges will be assigned by default going forward and no additional action is required.

For existing larger runner instances that have Static IP configured:

  • GitHub will assign an additional IP range(s) that admins can view by heading to their existing static IP enabled larger runners.
  • Admins will have 30 days to update their existing firewalls or internal IP allowlists with the new IP ranges before GitHub starts utilizing the new ranges for the runners.
  • Admins will also receive an email guiding them to take the necessary steps for their existing static IP enabled larger runners to continue to function as they switch to the dual IP range functionality.

You can learn more about the Static IP feature by heading over to documentation. If you have any feedback to help improve this experience, be sure to post it on our GitHub Community Discussion.

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Update to Actions usage in Enterprise Managed User namespace repositories

Enterprise Managed User namespace repositories were previously able to use GitHub-hosted Actions runners outside of the owning enterprise's entitlements. This was not an intentional configuration. Today we have disabled the ability for EMU user namespace repositories to use GitHub-hosted runners.

For customers using inner source workflows we recommend forking from an organization owned repository into your user namespace. You may then open a pull request back to the upstream repository and actions workflows will run as usual within the context of that organization and enterprise.

Learn more about enabling private repositories to run actions workflows from forks.

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GitHub Actions: Review network access settings for the self-hosted runners

GitHub Actions asks customers to review their network allow list for self-hosted runners according to the requirements in our documentation.

Network access to GitHub's *.actions.githubusercontent.com is essential for the self-hosted runners. Requiring wildcard access allows GitHub Actions to be flexible moving forward as we improve the service. Customers that do not allow wildcard access risk having interruptions in their GitHub Actions usage as we start enforcing this requirement on September 12, 2023. Please reach out to the customer support if you have limitations with configuring wildcard access in the on-premises firewall solution.

Learn more about GitHub Actions self-hosted runners.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community.

To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap.

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Repository Actions Runners List

With the Repository Actions Runners List, you can now view all available runners in the Actions tab of a repository. This feature is now in public beta and will be gradually released in the upcoming weeks.

The runner types listed include Standard GitHub-hosted, Larger GitHub-hosted (for faster builds), Self-hosted, and Scale-sets.

Repository Actions Runners List

For some benefits of using the Repository Actions Runners List:

  • Visibility across all GitHub Actions runners: Users with repo:write access can now view runner options without needing to rely on internal documentation or contacting a Repo admin or an Organization owner for runner label names.
  • Faster access to runner labels: Quickly view and copy labels for all runners, making it straightforward to identify the type of runner you need and use it in a workflow.

To access the Repository Actions Runners List:

  1. Navigate to the main page of the repository.
  2. Click the “Actions” tab under your repository name.
  3. Under the “Management” section in the left sidebar, click on “Runners”.
  4. Explore the available runners for the repository and copy runner labels as needed.

Note: Enterprise and Organization owners can also create new runners from this page from the “New runner” button.

This feature is available to users with:

  • Free and Pro Personal Accounts
  • Free Organizations
  • Paid Organizations on the Team and GitHub Enterprise Cloud plans

Note: This feature is not currently available to users in Organizations on the GitHub Enterprise Server and Legacy plans, or Enterprise Managed Users.

If you have any feedback to help improve this experience, be sure to post it on our GitHub Community Discussion.

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Actions runs triggered from tags or forks with the same name as a protected branch will now be blocked

GitHub environments can be configured with deployment branch policies to allow-list the branches that can deploy to them.

We are now security hardening these branch policies further by blocking runs triggered from forks with branches that match the protected branch name. We are also preventing tags with the same name as a protected branch from deploying to the environments with branch policies around protected branches.

Learn more about configuring environments with deployment protection rules to set up rigorous and streamlined guardrails for your deployments.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community.
To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap.

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[Private Beta] Jenkins Scripted Pipeline Migrations

Support for migrating Jenkins Scripted Pipelines to GitHub Actions is now available as a private beta! If you use Scripted Pipelines in your Jenkins instances, you can now automate the migration of your pipelines to GitHub Actions using GitHub Actions Importer.

To get started, please reach out to your GitHub account manager or contact our sales team! For questions and feedback about the private beta, please visit the GitHub Actions Importer community.

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GitHub Actions: Required Workflows will move to Repository Rules

We will be moving the private beta of required workflows on GitHub Actions to Repository Rules to give organization administrators a powerful way to protect their repositories with added feature benefits including unified configuration, dry running workflow rules, branch targeting, and a consistent UI experience.

Starting September 20th, 2023, users can configure their workflows using rulesets in order to run and pass in selected repositories before merging their code. On October 18th, users will no longer be able to access Actions Required Workflows and must use rulesets in its place.

How does this impact beta users of Actions Required Workflows?

Existing Actions Required Workflows private beta users will continue to have access until October 18th, 2023, allowing them time to adapt to the forthcoming changes. During this transitional period, users will maintain their existing workflows without disruption. This ensures that organizations can smoothly navigate the migration process, avoiding any abrupt disruptions to their current code merging practices. Here’s a quick overview of the events leading up to the move.

For GHEC customers

Leading up to October 18th:

  • GitHub will attempt to automatically migrate any existing Required Workflows to Rulesets for customers.
  • Any workflow files that did not successfully migrate will need to be manually migrated by code owners.

After October 18th:

  • The ability to require a workflow to pass before merging code will only be available on GitHub Enterprise plans via Repository Rules
  • Organization Rulesets will enable administrators to define, configure, and manage all workflows required to pass before merging code in repositories.
  • The feature formally known as Actions Required Workflows will no longer be accessible and users will be directed to Rulesets.

For GHES customers by version

  • GHES 3.8 and 3.9 will not be impacted until their next upgrade
  • GHES 3.10 and 3.11 will not be impacted if Actions Required Workflows are already in use
  • GHES 3.12 Requiring a workflow to run and pass before merging will be only be available vis Repository Rulesets

To learn more about how Repository Rules can help control how people can interact with branches, visit our documentation.

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GitHub Actions – New dashboard view for deployments across environments (public beta)

Today, we are announcing public beta of the new experience for deployments across environments. 🎉

Developers and DevOps managers can now view and track the full history of deployments in a repository or filter them across environments to:

  • view active deployments across various environments and navigate to the deployment URLs or
  • understand who and what commits, PRs triggered a deployment in a given environment or
  • monitor the deployment status and duration of deployments or
  • trace any deployment to its source workflow and view logs to diagnose any issues or review any pending approvals etc.

New Deployment views

Learn more about viewing deployments in your repository through our documentation and watching this video.

For questions, visit the GitHub Actions community.
To see what’s next for Actions, visit our public roadmap.

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GitHub Actions: Update on save-state and set-output commands

On October 11, 2022, we annouced plans to deprecate the save-state and set-output workflow commands on May 31, 2023. We have since decided to postpone the removal given the amount of usage we are still seeing with these commands.

Workflows using save-state or set-output in their workflows will continue to work as expected, however, a warning will appear under annotations indicating the planned deprecation. We recommend customers using these commands to upgrade their workflows to use environment files.

For more information on environment files, please check out our documentation. To see what's next for Actions, visit our public roadmap.

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GitHub Actions: Removal of Node12 from the Actions runner

Node12 has been out of support since April 2022. As a result we started the deprecation process of Node12 for GitHub Actions by migrating all actions to run on Node16 on June 14th.
We have seen no major issues reported and a minimal number of people opted out of the forced upgrade to Node16. Given this, we will remove Node12 from the Actions runner on the 14th of August 2023.

What you need to do

For Actions maintainers: Update your actions to run on Node16 instead of Node12 (Actions configuration settings)
For Actions users: Update your workflows with latest versions of the actions which runs on Node16 (Using versions for Actions)

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GitHub Actions – OIDC integration with AWS no longer requires pinning of intermediate TLS certificates

GitHub Actions – OpenId Connect (OIDC) integration with AWS is now optimized to avoid pinning any intermediary certificate thumbprints.

While configuring GitHub as an OIDC IdP (ID Provider), AWS now secures communication by trusting GitHub Actions’s trusted root certificate authorities (CAs) instead of using a certificate thumbprint to verify GitHub’s IdP server certificate.
This will address and avoid any issues caused due to pinning certificate thumbprints while authenticating from GitHub to AWS using OIDC. No action is needed for GitHub customers.

Learn more about using OIDC with GitHub Actions.

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GitHub Actions – Update on OIDC integration with AWS

We have received customers reporting errors with Actions’ OIDC integration with AWS.
This happens for customers who are pinned to a single intermediary thumbprint from the Certificate Authority (CA) of the Actions SSL certificate.

There are two possible intermediary certificates for the Actions SSL certificate and either can be returned by our servers, requiring customers to trust both. This is a known behavior when the intermediary certificates are cross-signed by the CA.

Customers experiencing issues authenticating via OIDC with AWS should configure both thumbprints to be trusted in the AWS portal.
The two known intermediary thumbprints at this time are:

  • 6938fd4d98bab03faadb97b34396831e3780aea1
  • 1c58a3a8518e8759bf075b76b750d4f2df264fcd

Learn more about using OIDC with GitHub Actions.

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GitHub-hosted larger runners for Actions are generally available

Today, we are announcing that larger hosted runners for GitHub Actions are generally available for paid Team and Enterprise Cloud plans! This feature has been in public beta since September of 2022 where customers have been using it in production to run their CI/CD jobs faster and with more flexibility.

larger runner machine sizes

The new larger runners provide new capabilities:

  • Larger Linux and Windows machines: This allows development teams to use machine sizes up to 64 vCPUs with 256 GB of RAM, and 2 TB of SSD storage to support their on-demand CI/CD jobs and other workflows. Larger runners are charged by the job minute for both private and public repositories and do not consume included minutes.
  • Static IP address to enable secure access to your resources: Enterprise Cloud customers can now choose whether a static IP address range will be assigned to their larger runner instances. This provides a fixed IP address range that you can add to your allow list for access to internal systems. You can also use this in conjunction with GitHub’s IP allow list to enable hosted actions runners and IP allow listing at the same time.
  • Administrative control over access to larger runners and concurrency: Your administrators can decide who has access to larger machine sizes and at what concurrency, providing guard rails on spending.

You can learn about the larger runner per job minute pricing by checking the current pricing documentation and learn more about this feature by digging into the documentation.

If you have any feedback to help improve this experience, be sure to post it on our GitHub Community Discussion.

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