Can you have multiple working directories with github actions? - go

Question

So I have a repo with multiple directories for multiple go projects. Is there a way to run github actions on multiple working directories so I don't have to have redundant yaml with github actions? To automate an error check with golang, I currently have:
errcheck:
name: Errcheck
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#master
- name: check
uses: grandcolline/golang-github-actions#v1.1.0
working-directory: ./app1
with:
run: errcheck
token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
But I'd like to have:
errcheck:
name: Errcheck
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#master
- name: check
uses: grandcolline/golang-github-actions#v1.1.0
working-directory: [./app1, ./app2]
with:
run: errcheck
token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Answer 1

In order to run something in more than one working directory, I believe you have two options:
Option 1: Matrix
Use GitHub Action's jobs.<job_id>.strategy.matrix option. This will create multiple jobs, each with its own matrix (directory) value.
Here is a sample workflow:
name: Test
on:
push: { branches: master }
jobs:
test:
name: Matrix test
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
strategy:
matrix: { dir: ['some-dir', 'other-dir'] }
steps:
- name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Do something with the matrix value
working-directory: ${{ matrix.dir }}
run: pwd
Running this will create two jobs:
Option 2: Custom Shell Script
If the matrix option is not suitable for your needs, a simple shell script that loops through and tests all your nested applications (directories) might be appropriate. In this case, you ignore the working-direcoty directive in the workflow YAML, and let the script cd to each of them.
For example:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
dirs=( some-dir other-dir )
for dir in "${dirs[#]}"; do
pushd "$dir"
pwd # Do something more significant here
popd
done