Syntax error when trying github runners as environment variable as input to strategy matrix

Question

This issue is reproducible. Simply paste the receivertest.yml in your GitHub workflow and you will see the error I m reporting.

Below is my caller workflow callertest.yml file:

---
name: Testcasecaller

on:
  workflow_dispatch

jobs:

  call-reusable-workflow:
    uses: knowyrtech/DevOps/.github/workflows/receivertest.yml@newmmtmp
    secrets: inherit

Here is my called workflow receivertest.yml that uses strategy matrix on 2 self-hosted runners viz linuxrunner and winrunner:

---

name: refresh_poc - AD

env:
  linuxrunner: '0361'
  winrunner: '1567'

on:

  workflow_call:

    inputs:
      srcDBenv:
        description: 'Source Environment'
        required: false
        type: string
        default: 'STG'

    secrets:
      AUTOMATED_TOKEN:
        description: 'DevOps github repo secret'
        required: true 

jobs:

  SETVARS:
    name: Set variables

    outputs:
      formatdate: "${{ steps.get-date.outputs.formatdate }}"

    runs-on: ${{ linuxrunner }}

    steps:

      - name: Get present date
        id: get-date
        run: |
          date=$(date +"%d%b%Y")
          echo "formatdate=$date" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

 

  TAKING_PROD_DATABASE_BACKUP:
    name: Taking backup


    needs:
      - SETVARS

    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}

    strategy:
      max-parallel: 1    
      matrix:
        os: [${{ env.winrunner }}, ${{ env.linuxrunner }}]

    steps:

      - name: Checkout
        env:
          ATOTOKEN: ${{ secrets.AUTOMATED_TOKEN }}
        with:
          repository: knowyrtech/DevOps
          ref: newmmtmp
          path: DevOps
          sparse-checkout: |
            scripts
          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: false  
          token: ${{ env.ATOTOKEN }}

        if: matrix.os == ${{ env.winrunner }}

Error when action is run:

Invalid workflow file: .github/workflows/callertest.yml#L10

error parsing called workflow ".github/workflows/callertest.yml" -> knowyrtech/DevOps/.github/workflows/receivertest.yml@newmmtmp (source branch with sha:fdb50734f2e37ecaa1eaf469ebfcad75de3c1fb7) : You have an error in your yaml syntax on line 49

I tried os: [${{ winrunner }}, ${{ linuxrunner }}] but that too did not work.

The editor prompts an error as: missed comma between flow collection entries but as you can see the comma is very well there.

I tried setting the combined runners as outputs and feeding the outputs to the strategy matrix but then I get error Error when evaluating 'strategy' for job

  set-vars:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      os-matrix: ${{ steps.set-vars.outputs.os-matrix }}
    steps:
      - name: Set matrix values
        id: set-vars
        run: |
          echo "os-matrix=${{ env.winrunner }},${{ env.linuxrunner }}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

and

os: fromJson(${{ NEEDS.SET-VARS.OUTPUTS.OS-MATRIX }})

While troubleshooting the issue I also landed on syntax error for runs-on: ${{ linuxrunner }} or runs-on: ${{ env.linuxrunner }}

Can you please suggest what the issue is with my workflow code?

Several attempts to get this work did not help. Can someone please suggest @Everyone — Ashar, Aug 11 '23 at 05:46
Yes @jessehouwing, the primary issue is constructing the matrix but at times I get the `env.linuxrunner` error too. My requirement is the get the above workflow to work. — Ashar, Aug 12 '23 at 14:52
As far as I can tell the `env` context isn't available when setting matrix values. I have an example how to pass the outputs of a previous job though: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76183077/how-to-trigger-2nd-pipeline-after-completing-all-previous-multiple-pipelines-und/76183348#76183348 — jessehouwing, Aug 12 '23 at 15:17
@jessehouwing I m well aware of passing `outputs` to matrix values. The issue in my case is passing `runners` defined as environment `.env` variables to matrix values. — Ashar, Aug 12 '23 at 16:14
@jessehouwing thank you for the github post and answer. But why is converting matrix `env. ` variables as `outputs` variable as shown in the second attempt/approach also not work? — Ashar, Aug 13 '23 at 04:44
That second example doesn't look like valid json. It seems to be missing `[...]`. I find the syntax for passing variables super awkward (as you've already encountered), in the linked post I use `pwsh` to format the json correctly, makes things a lot easier. — jessehouwing, Aug 13 '23 at 09:30
@jessehouwing In the second example i tried but could not construct acceptable json for runners. Can you please suggest? — Ashar, Aug 14 '23 at 01:50
Check out https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76183077/how-to-trigger-2nd-pipeline-after-completing-all-previous-multiple-pipelines-und/76183348#76183348 — jessehouwing, Aug 14 '23 at 07:59

Syntax error when trying github runners as environment variable as input to strategy matrix

0 Answers0