Why does Github action log show asterisk?

Question

When running on a Github action runner the Maven log output shows only 3 asterisk (***) instead of the actual string

Warning: /home/runner/work/project/src/test/java/de/***/persistence/dao/DaoTest.java:98: Prefer java.time.ZonedDateTime

Where do these *** come from?

Answer 1

Turned out that Github actions have a security feature that replaces strings that are also used as a secret. So if some log output just by accident contains the same string as used as a secret elsewhere it does get replaced with ***.

This is also mentioned in this issue.