How to pass "mysql_native_password" to MySQL service in GitHub Actions?

Question

Example of my GitHub Action config:

jobs:
  unit-test:
    name: Unit Testing
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      mysql:
        image: mysql:8.0
        env:
          MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: password
          MYSQL_DATABASE: db
        options: --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping" --health-interval=10s --health-timeout=5s --health-retries=5
    steps:
      - name: Verify MySQL connection from host
        run: mysql --host mysql --port 3306 -uroot -ppassword -e "SHOW DATABASES"

With MySQL 5.7 it works. But with MySQL 8.0 it shows:

ERROR 1045 (28000): Plugin caching_sha2_password could not be loaded: ...

In MySQL docker docs there is a line which allows mysql_native_password auth:

command: --default-authentication-plugin=mysql_native_password

How to allow the mysql_native_password auth plugin in GitHub Actions/service?

Answer 1

Currently its not possible to specify command option in github actions service workflow syntax, a simpler alternative is to use a different mysql image and override the entrypoint to use native password, or use an existing image that provides configuring auth method using env variables like this bitnami mysql image.

Using the bitnami mysql image:

    services:
      mysql:
        image: bitnami/mysql:8.0.20
        env:
          ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: yes
          MYSQL_DATABASE: abc
          MYSQL_AUTHENTICATION_PLUGIN: mysql_native_password
        ports:
          - 3306/tcp
        options: >-
          --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping" 
          --health-interval=10s 
          --health-timeout=5s 
          --health-retries=3