How to use git commands during a github action?

Question

Trying to auto-apply black and isort to only the files changed on some python code with github actions during a pull request on a self-hosted runner, and after that commit to the PR. But get errors such as Not a git repository on some of the steps. Here is my workflow file:

name: Autolint

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

jobs:
  run-linters:
    name: Run linters
    runs-on: self-hosted
    container:
      image: edlut/azion:monster-action-base
      options: --privileged

    steps:
    - name: Install git 
      run: |
        apt-get install -y git
        git --version
        echo "Path is ... $PATH"
        PATH=$PATH:$(which git)
        echo "Path is ... $PATH"

    - uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Debug - Check if .git folder exists
      run: |
        ls -lah

    - name: Install Python dependencies
      run: pip3 install black isort

    - name: Apply Black
      env:
        BRANCH: ${{ github.head_ref }}
      run: |
        echo "Branch is ... ${BRANCH}"
        git diff --name-only "$GITHUB_BASE_REF..${BRANCH}" | grep .py | xargs black -l 119

    - name: Apply isort
      env:
        BRANCH: ${{ github.head_ref }}
      run: |
        git diff --name-only "$GITHUB_BASE_REF..${BRANCH}" | xargs isort

    - name: Check for modified files
      id: git-check
      run: echo ::set-output name=modified::$(if git status | grep "nothing to commit"; then echo "false"; else echo "true"; fi)

    - name: Push changes
      if: steps.git-check.outputs.modified == 'true'
      run: |
        git config --global user.name 'My Name'
        git config --global user.email '[email protected]'
        git remote set-url origin https://x-access-token:${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/${{ github.repository }}
        # git commit -am "style: Apply Black style"
        # git push

Can anybody help me out on how to achieve this?

Answer 1

name: Version Build

on:
  push:
    branches: [ develop ]

jobs:
  build-version:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Git checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v2
      with:
        fetch-depth: '0'
    - name: git
      run: |
        # setup the username and email. I tend to use 'GitHub Actions Bot' with no email by default
        git --version
        git config user.name "GitHub Actions Bot"
        git config user.email "<>"
        git status
        git tag
        git describe

Answer 2

Yes, there seems to be issues with running git commands in GitHub Actions given certain scenarios.

In my case it was the fact that my jobs were running in a container. The working directory in my job containers had NOT added to the Git safe.directory configuration.

In a job run in a container you'll need to add the working directory yourself. Do this before running any git commands.

git config --global --add safe.directory <repo-dir>

You can pass ${{ github.workspace }} as input to your actions to get the directory. Or use an Github Action default environment variable.

NOTE: Using actions/checkout@v4 will add the directory it checks out to the safe.directory setting. Sample actions/checkout@v4 output:

Adding repository directory to the temporary git global config as a safe directory
/usr/bin/git config --global --add safe.directory /home/runner/work/example-repo/example-repo

But that is on the host runner and not in job containers.