GitHub Actions

Probably a common thing I’ll discuss on this blog is people using technology just because it’s apparently cool. In a way, it is similar to when people write programs using languages they know, rather than using an appropriate language for the task. It’s like the mentality is “I’ve learned this thing, so I’m gonna use it!”

Teams have been using AWS Code Build to build their applications. Then one team decides to be different and try some new technology; GitHub actions https://github.com/features/actions. When their source code is on GitHub, it does make sense to use Build tools there, but at the same time, every other team is using AWS, so why not be consistent? To be fair, I guess a good reason to use it is that you get 2,000 free minutes a month, so I guess it is cheaper for one team to use it.

Now, there’s a couple of things I want to mention here.

A) This team that uses GitHub Actions has many people that I mentioned in the Anti-Microsoft blog (https://strangercodingtings.home.blog/2019/10/29/nerd-elitists-1-anti-microsoft/). Now, the funny thing is that Microsoft acquired GitHub back in June 2018 (https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/04/microsoft-has-acquired-github-for-7-5b-in-microsoft-stock/), and therefore, their servers are running on Microsoft’s Azure platform. I do wonder if those guys are aware of this.

“GitHub hosts Linux and Windows runners on Standard_DS2_v2 virtual machines in Microsoft Azure with the GitHub Actions runner application installed.”

https://help.github.com/en/actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/virtual-environments-for-github-hosted-runners#about-github-hosted-runners

B) In my team, we have 4 repositories, and 3 were set up to use AWS Code Build. I submitted a Pull Request to configure the fourth. I get a comment on my Pull Request saying “changes are OK, but I recommend using GitHub Actions instead”. No justification for it, he just thinks it’s cool, so wants me to undo the few hours work. I can understand if there was a strong advantage for using GitHub Actions over Code Build, and if there is, I would want all 4 repositories converting, not just 1. It just adds to the confusion, and adds to the things you need to learn and maintain.