An action is a custom application for the GitHub Actions platform that performs a complex but frequently repeated task. Use an action to help reduce the amount of repetitive code that you write in your workflow files. An action can pull your git repository from GitHub, set up the correct toolchain for your build environment, or set up the authentication to your cloud provider. The CI/CD options from GitLab, in my opinion, do not seem to have the same level of support in the ecosystem for prebuilt items to help with continuous testing. Ultimately, this really isn’t a big deal, but it means that you’ll have to add an extra item or two to the YAML so that the latest tools are downloaded instead of being able to pull an image with a single line. Again, as with the other CI tools, a single command is run in the workflow with some parameters included in a configuration file (primarily the location of the application to test).

How GitHub reduced testing time for iOS apps with new runner features

It’s been a great balance between a managed service and the flexibility of running it yourself. Both GitLab CI/CD and GitHub Actions can upload files and directories created by a job as artifacts. In GitHub Actions, artifacts can be used to persist data across multiple jobs. GitLab CI/CD and GitHub Actions provide a method in the configuration file to manually cache workflow files. Both GitLab CI/CD and GitHub Actions allow you to set dependencies for a job.

GitHub Actions syntax for Docker images

At its core, GitHub Actions is designed to help simplify workflows with flexible automation and offer easy-to-use CI/CD capabilities built by developers for developers. GitLab CI/CD variables are key-value pairs you use to store and pass configuration settingsand sensitive information, like passwords or API keys, to jobs in a pipeline. CI/CD is a continuous method of software development, where you continuously build,test, deploy, and monitor iterative code changes.

Step 1: Create or choose a repository, and pick a project

To some, Microsoft will always be the Evil Empire, despite Microsoft’s constant showing its support for open-source methods and software — or how often Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says he loves Linux. While some users did flee GitHub for GitLab and Atlassian BitBucket at the time, Microsoft taking over was never truly a huge factor for most. While both support open-source, the repositories themselves use a mixed programming model. In this model, the GitLab Community Edition remains free and open-source, while the GitLab Enterprise Edition has more features and comes with support. GitHub, on the other hand, offers fewer services within its own program but offers ways to integrate with many outside programs and services.

Why a VCS (aka Source Code Management system)?

With GitHub Actions, building a CI/CD pipeline is a straightforward process and one that lets you focus more extensively on your code instead of all the things that come after it. But if something goes wrong, these live logs can be very helpful to reference. Whether you’re looking at timestamps or which part of the process failed, you can determine how to fix the problem. The website itself is made with OneGraph, hosted on Netlify , and built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Verify Docker installation:#

Specifically, GitHub advocates merging new branches (your new and unique changes) with the master (main) branch. That way, you’re set up to quickly deploy, and you can speedily reinstate your old version if something goes awry. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services.

As always, the best way to decide is to try out both tools and see which one works best for you. The uses keyword specifies that this step will run v4 of the actions/checkout https://traderoom.info/ action. This is an action that checks out your repository onto the runner, allowing you to run scripts or other actions against your code (such as build and test tools).

1. Both GitLab CI/CD and GitHub Actions utilize YAML for configuration, providing a straightforward, human-readable format.
2. An event is a specific activity in a repository that triggers a workflow run.
3. Additionally, you can make credentials available to jobs by storing them in CI/CD variables, though secretsstored in plain text are susceptible to accidental exposure.
4. In terms of job control and parallel execution, both tools offer robust capabilities.
5. For Kubernetes users, GitLab offers its optional GitLab Agent to access the insides of a cluster without any additional tokens.

Only the GitHub/GitLab instances has to be accessible by the runners, the runners themselves don’t need to be exposed to the internet. While the CI/CD job scheduling is quite similar, there are some differences between GitHub and GitLab in how the jobs are executed. GitHub Actions is a built-in automation engine that lets you define custom workflows for your development process in GitHub. These workflows are step-by-step automated processes triggered by events like code pushes or pull request merges. The choice between the two depends on the specific requirements of the project and the development team’s preferences.

Each workflow is stored as a separate YAML file in your code repository, in a directory named .github/workflows. A job is a set of steps in a workflow that is executed on the same runner. Each step is either a shell script that will be executed, or an action that will be run. Since each step is executed on the same runner, you can share data from one step to another. For example, you can have a step that builds your application followed by a step that tests the application that was built.

However, GitLab CI/CD takes a step further with its CI Lint tool, which validates your .gitlab-ci.yml file before committing. This preemptive check can save developers from potential headaches caused by incorrect configurations, making the setup process smoother and more efficient. Another core difference is that GitLab  offers you a complete software development solution. They advertise themselves as a complete DevOps platform for a reason.

That said, GitLab does offer integrations with some third-party programs and platforms such as Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Gmail, and numerous other apps and platforms. At that time, I had just finished a stint at a startup where the release process was far more manual and far more anxiety-inducing. We were a small team and without the benefit of a CI/CD pipeline or blue-green deployments, we could only release updates when users were less likely to be on our app late at night. It was a tedious process where any degree of human error would stretch out how long it took to deploy a build.

Just in case the above workflows aren’t enough to keep you busy, I wanted to give you a few more. In our Starter Workflows repository, you can find a bunch of pre-built GitHub Actions that are ready to use https://traderoom.info/gitlab-ci-vs-github-actions/ for continuous integration, continuous deployment, code scanning, and workflow automation. Every one of these workflows has been built and tested by the GitHub team—and they’re updated regularly too.