GH-200 Sample Questions Answers

The GITHUB_TOKEN is automatically provided by GitHub in workflows and can be used to authenticate API requests to GitHub, including publishing packages to GitHub Packages.

The GITHUB_TOKEN is also used to authenticate API requests for actions like creating issues, commenting, or interacting with pull requests within the same repository.

The first image shows a workflow trigger with an option for the test suite, and the chosen YAML configuration matches this interface. Specifically, the test suite input is defined with type: choice and includes the option value: functional, which aligns with the visible UI elements in the first image.

GitHub Actions supports the use of service containers, which allows you to spin up a PostgreSQL database (or any other service) in a Docker container during your workflow. You can pull a PostgreSQL image from Docker Hub, and the container will automatically be available to your workflow job. This method requires no additional infrastructure and is easy to configure and maintain, as you simply define the container in the workflow file.

The GITHUB_REPOSITORY environment variable contains the owner and repository name in the format owner/repository. It is automatically provided by GitHub Actions and can be used to reference the repository in workflows.

Creating workflow templates in the organization’s .github repository allows the organization to standardize workflows and make them easily reusable across multiple repositories. This ensures consistency and simplifies maintenance.

Creating reusable actions and workflows that can be called from other workflows helps modularize and standardize automation tasks. These reusable components can be maintained centrally and called from different workflows across repositories.

A. Use the actions/setup-docker action

B. Authenticate to the GitHub Container Registry.

C. Build the container image.

D. Push the image to the GitHub Container Registry

E. Pull the image from the GitHub Container Registry.

The smallest scope for an environment variable is within a step. Environment variables defined within a step are only accessible to that particular step, which makes it the smallest scope for a variable in a GitHub Actions workflow.

The GITHUB_REF environment variable specifies the branch or tag that triggered the workflow. It contains the full reference to the branch or tag, such as refs/heads/main for a branch or refs/tags/v1.0 for a tag.

GitHub Actions on GitHub Enterprise Server often requires an internet connection, especially for accessing actions from the GitHub Marketplace or third-party actions unless they are manually synced to the server.

To use third-party actions on GitHub Enterprise Server, GitHub Connect can be used to establish a connection between the server and GitHub.com, enabling access to third-party actions.

Third-party actions can also be manually synchronized to the GitHub Enterprise Server, making them available for use in workflows.

In a Docker container action, the action.yml file includes the runs.using field, which is set to docker to specify that the action runs inside a Docker container. This is the key indicator that the action is a Docker container action.

Using a commit hash is the safest method because it references a specific point in time in the repository’s history. This ensures that the action is locked to that exact version and will not be affected by any future changes or modifications to the codebase. Even if the action is updated later, your workflow will continue using the specific commit you referenced.

Actions stored in private repositories within the organization can be reused across all repositories by referencing them in workflows. This ensures a centralized way of maintaining custom actions.

Encrypted secrets can be accessed across repositories in the same organization, making it easy to store sensitive data (like API keys or tokens) securely while allowing multiple workflows to access them.

Workflow templates allow you to create reusable templates for workflows that can be shared across repositories within the organization. This makes it easier to standardize processes and automate them across multiple projects.

Since the self-hosted runner is configured on a Linux VM and the script is written in PowerShell, you can invoke the script using the pwsh (PowerShell Core) shell in a run step in the workflow. This ensures that the script runs as-is on the Linux runner, as PowerShell Core (pwsh) is cross-platform and supports Linux.

Scheduled workflows in GitHub Actions are triggered at specified times, and they run on the latest commit of the branch that triggers the workflow. This means the workflow will run on the most recent commit on the branch that was active at the time the scheduled event occurs.

Workflow files must be stored in the .github/workflows/ directory of the repository. This is the standard location for GitHub Actions workflow files, and workflows in this directory are automatically triggered by events defined in the file, such as pushes, pull requests, or other GitHub events.

The check_run event is triggered when a check (such as a code quality check) completes, including when the status of a check changes. By adding this event as a trigger, you can initiate a follow-up workflow when the code quality integration finishes its checks.

The core.warning() function from the @actions/core package is used to create a warning message in the workflow logs. This is an annotation type that informs users about issues that don't require failing the build but still need attention.

The matrix configuration specifies two variables: color and animal. The color variable has 2 values (green and pink), and the animal variable has 2 values (owl and magpie). This would result in 4 combinations (2 color values × 2 animal values). Additionally, the include section introduces two more combinations (color: blue and animal: owl; color: pink and animal: magpie).