Sequencing GitHub actions job on conditions - bash

Question

I have: Job A, Job B & Job C.
when Job A completes
If job B runs I need job C to run (after job B has completed with success)
if Job B skipped I need Job C to run (If job A has completed with success)
See below for code snip:
check_if_containers_exist_to_pass_to_last_known_tagger_job: (JobA)
name: check_if_containers_exist
environment: test
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
#needs: [push_web_to_ecr, push_cron_###_to_ecr, push_to_###_shared_ecr, push_to_###_ecr]
needs: push_###_to_shared_ecr
#if: ${{ github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' }}
outputs:
signal_job: ${{ steps.step_id.outputs.run_container_tagger_job }}
steps:
- name: Configure AWS credentials
id: config-aws-creds
uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials#v1
with:
aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.SHARED_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.SHARED_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
aws-region: eu-west-2
- name: Check if container exists (If containers don't exist then don't run last known tagging job for rollback)
id: step_id
run: |
aws ecr describe-images --repository-name anonymizer --image-ids imageTag=testing-latest
if [ $? == 254 ]; then echo "::set-output name=run_container_tagger_job::false"; else echo "::set-output name=run_container_tagger_job::true"; fi
tag_latest_testing_containers_as_last_known_testing_containers: (Job B)
needs: check_if_containers_exist_to_pass_to_last_known_tagger_job
if: needs.check_if_containers_exist_to_pass_to_last_known_tagger_job.outputs.signal_job == 'true'
uses: ###/###/.github/workflows/container-tagger.yml####
with:
tag_to_identify_containers: testing-latest
new_tag_to_apply_to_containers: last-known-testing
aws-region: eu-west-2
run_cron_and_cycle_containers: false
secrets:
SHARED_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.SHARED_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
SHARED_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SHARED_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
tag_testing_containers_to_testing_latest: (Job C)
needs: [check_if_containers_exist_to_pass_to_last_known_tagger_job,tag_latest_testing_containers_as_last_known_testing_containers]
if: ${{ always() }}
uses: ###/##/.github/workflows/container-tagger.yml####
with:
tag_to_identify_containers: dev-${{ github.sha }}
new_tag_to_apply_to_containers: james-cron-test
aws-region: eu-west-2
run_cron_and_cycle_containers: true
secrets:
SHARED_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.SHARED_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
SHARED_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SHARED_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
ENVIRONMENT_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.TESTING_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
ENVIRONMENT_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.TESTING_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}

Answer 1

It might not be the most elegant solution, but it works.
The workaround would consist of adding 2 extra steps at the end of the Job A, and set the 2 steps always execute (if: always()).
The first one is used to create a text file and write the job status into it.
The second one is used to upload this text file as an artifact.
Then, in Job B and Job C, you will need to add the steps to download the artifacts and read the status of Job A to then perform or not specific operations.
Here is a demo of how it might look:
jobs:
JOB_A:
name: Job A
...
steps:
- name: Some steps of job A
...
- name: Create file status_jobA.txt and write the job status into it
if: always()
run: |
echo ${{ job.status }} > status_jobA.txt
- name: Upload file status_jobA.txt as an artifact
if: always()
uses: actions/upload-artifact#v1
with:
name: pass_status_jobA
path: status_jobA.txt
JOB_B:
needs: [JOB_A]
if: always()
name: Job B
...
steps:
- name: Download artifact pass_status_jobA
uses: actions/download-artifact#v1
with:
name: pass_status_jobA
- name: Set the status of Job A as output parameter
id: set_outputs
run: echo "::set-output name=status_jobA::$(<pass_status_jobA/status_jobA.txt)"
- name: Check Job A status
if: ${{ steps.set_outputs.outputs.status_jobA }} == "success"
run: |
...
JOB_C:
needs: [JOB_A]
if: always()
name: Job C
...
steps:
- name: Download artifact pass_status_jobA
uses: actions/download-artifact#v1
with:
name: pass_status_jobA
- name: Set the status of Job A as output parameter
id: set_outputs
run: echo "::set-output name=status_jobA::$(<pass_status_jobA/status_jobA.txt)"
- name: Check Job A status
if: ${{ steps.set_outputs.outputs.status_jobA }} == "failure"
run: |
...
Note that here, all jobs will always run, but Job B steps after the check will only run for Job A success, and Job C steps after the check will only run for Job A failure.
Job A --> Success --> Job B + Job C checks --> Job B steps
Job A --> Failure --> Job B + Job C checks --> Job C steps
Reference