--- date: "2023-04-27T15:00:00+08:00" title: "Compared to GitHub Actions" slug: "comparison" sidebar_position: 30 draft: false toc: false menu: sidebar: parent: "actions" name: "Comparison" sidebar_position: 30 identifier: "actions-comparison" --- # Compared to GitHub Actions Even though Gitea Actions is designed to be compatible with GitHub Actions, there are some differences between them. ## Additional features ### Absolute action URLs Gitea Actions supports defining actions via absolute URL, which means that you can use actions from any git repository. Like `uses: https://github.com/actions/checkout@v3` or `uses: http://your_gitea.com/owner/repo@branch`. ### Actions written in Go Gitea Actions supports writing actions in Go. See [Creating Go Actions](https://blog.gitea.io/2023/04/creating-go-actions/). ## Unsupported workflows syntax ### `concurrency` It's used to run a single job at a time. See [Using concurrency](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-jobs/using-concurrency). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### `run-name` The name for workflow runs generated from the workflow. See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#run-name). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### `permissions` and `jobs..permissions` See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#permissions). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### `jobs..timeout-minutes` See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idtimeout-minutes). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### `jobs..continue-on-error` See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idcontinue-on-error). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### `jobs..environment` See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idenvironment). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### Complex `runs-on` See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idruns-on). Gitea Actions only supports `runs-on: xyz` or `runs-on: [xyz]` now. ### `workflow_dispatch` See [Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#onworkflow_dispatch). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### `hashFiles` expression See [Expressions](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/expressions#hashfiles) Gitea Actions doesn't support it now, if you use it, the result will always be empty string. As a workaround, you can use [go-hashfiles](https://gitea.com/actions/go-hashfiles) instead. ## Missing features ### Variables See [Variables](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/variables). It's under development. ### Problem Matchers Problem Matchers are a way to scan the output of actions for a specified regex pattern and surface that information prominently in the UI. See [Problem matchers](https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/main/docs/problem-matchers.md). It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ### Create an error annotation See [Creating an annotation for an error](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-commands-for-github-actions#example-creating-an-annotation-for-an-error) It's ignored by Gitea Actions now. ## Missing UI features ### Pre and Post steps Pre and Post steps don't have their own section in the job log user interface. ## Different behavior ### Downloading actions Gitea Actions doesn't download actions from GitHub by default. "By default" means that you don't specify the host in the `uses` field, like `uses: actions/checkout@v3`. As a contrast, `uses: https://github.com/actions/checkout@v3` has specified host. The missing host will be filled with `https://gitea.com` if you don't configure it. That means `uses: actions/checkout@v3` will download the action from [gitea.com/actions/checkout](https://gitea.com/actions/checkout), instead of [github.com/actions/checkout](https://github.com/actions/checkout). As mentioned, it's configurable. If you want your runners to download actions from GitHub or your own Gitea instance by default, you can configure it by setting `[actions].DEFAULT_ACTIONS_URL`. See [Configuration Cheat Sheet](administration/config-cheat-sheet.md#actions-actions). ### Context availability Context availability is not checked, so you can use the env context on more places. See [Context availability](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/contexts#context-availability). ## Known issues ### `docker/build-push-action@v4` See [act_runner#119](https://gitea.com/gitea/act_runner/issues/119#issuecomment-738294). `ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN` is a random string in Gitea Actions, not a JWT. But the `docker/build-push-action@v4` tries to parse the token as JWT and doesn't handle the error, so the job fails. There are two workarounds: Set the `ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN` to empty manually, like: ``` yml - name: Build and push uses: docker/build-push-action@v4 env: ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN: '' with: ... ``` The bug has been fixed in a newer [commit](https://gitea.com/docker/build-push-action/commit/d8823bfaed2a82c6f5d4799a2f8e86173c461aba?style=split&whitespace=show-all#diff-1af9a5bdf96ddff3a2f3427ed520b7005e9564ad), but it has not been released. So you could use the latest version by specifying the branch name, like: ``` yml - name: Build and push uses: docker/build-push-action@master with: ... ```