mirror of https://github.com/actions/toolkit
45 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
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# Action Types
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There are two types of actions. JavaScript and Docker actions.
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- **JavaScript Actions**: JavaScript actions run on the host machine. The unit of work is decoupled from the environment.
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- **Docker Actions**: A container action is a container which carries both the unit of work along with the environment and it's dependencies packaged up as a container.
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Both have access to the workspace and the github event payload and context.
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## Why would I choose a Docker action?
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Docker actions carry both the unit of work and the environment.
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This creates a more consistent and reliable unit of work where the consumer of the action does not need to worry about the toolsets and it's dependencies.
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Docker actions are currently limited to Linux only.
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## Why would I choose a host action?
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JavaScript actions decouple the unit of work from the environment and run directly on the host machine or VM.
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Consider a simple example of testing a node lib on node 8, 10 and running a custom action. Each job will setup a node version on the host and custom-action will run it's unit of work on each environment (node8+ubunut16, node8+windows-2019, etc.)
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```yaml
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on: push
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jobs:
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build:
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strategy:
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matrix:
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node: [8.x, 10.x]
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os: [ubuntu-16.04, windows-2019]
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runs-on: ${{matrix.os}}
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actions:
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- uses: actions/setup-node@master
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with:
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version: ${{matrix.node}}
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- run: |
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npm install
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- run: |
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npm test
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- uses: actions/custom-action@master
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```
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JavaScript actions work on any environment that host action runtime is supported on which is currently node 12. However, a host action that runs a toolset expects the environment that it's running on to have that toolset in it's PATH or using a setup-* action to acquire it on demand.
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