Feature Request: Actions: Support externally defined configuration files

[kbingham]

Splitting out from the now closed #13539

Yup now I've been exploring more, I can see a separated repo for the workflows could be a very helpful way of doing this too. Then multiple repos (mirrors, forks, or separate repos for separate developers) can point to common workflow actions.

FWIW - Today I discovered gitlab can do this and it's all documented here:

• https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/settings.html#specify-a-custom-cicd-configuration-file
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/14376

Originally posted by @kbingham in #13539 (comment)

[wolfogre]

I think reusing workflows can do the same thing.

BTW, act runner supports reusing workflows, but there are some bugs in some cases.

[kbingham]

The problem I can see with reusable workflows is : https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/reusing-workflows#calling-a-reusable-workflow

The use case here means I can not add any specific CI files to the repository itself which is to be compiled. Specifically this is to support building libcamera and the linux kernel.

I can't merge my CI files into the linux kernel, and I'm not allowed to merge my CI files into libcamera.

[Hypnotist1148]

Agree, being able to select common/shared configuration in the existing actions setting for a repository or even a whole organization would be a huge plus, especially for mirrors or for environments where Organizations and Repositories are managed by automated systems.
Or even just small teams.

[sthomen]

I for one would very much prefer to not have to have configuration of the server leak into my code repositories.