jdaugherty opened a new pull request, #16673:
URL: https://github.com/apache/grails-core/pull/16673
## Summary
GitHub Actions usage on this repository is far above what the review process
needs, so this change makes
every workflow decide, in one place, whether it runs at all and whether its
test jobs run.
**Pull requests**
- A **draft** pull request runs no workflow unless it carries the **`run
ci`** label. Marking it ready for review
starts CI (every `pull_request` trigger now lists `ready_for_review`,
which is not a default type).
- A pull request labelled **`no ci`** runs no workflow at all, draft or not.
- Labels are read when a run starts: add `run ci` (or remove `no ci`) and
push, or mark the draft ready, to get a run.
`labeled` is deliberately not a trigger, because the Release Drafter
autolabeler would start runs on every new
pull request that cancel the real one through the concurrency group.
**Tests**
- A new reusable workflow, `.github/workflows/ci-policy.yml`, is the first
job (`policy`) of every workflow that
runs tests; test jobs and the test steps of the build jobs are gated on
its `run-tests` output.
- On the **default branch and the release branches above it** the tests run
unless the head commit message starts
with `[skip tests]` (unchanged intent).
- On a **release branch below the default** (7.0.x, 7.2.x while 8.0.x is the
default) and on a **pull request whose
base is a side branch** rather than a release branch, the tests run only
when the head commit message starts with
`[run tests]`. Otherwise the run builds, and on a push still publishes
snapshots, exactly like a `[skip tests]`
commit does today. Dependency validation, code style, build health, RAT
and CodeQL keep running.
- The old `contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip tests]')` check
was empty on `pull_request` events, so
every pull request ran the tests whatever the message said. The policy
reads the head commit through the API, so
the markers now work on pull requests too. The decision and its reason are
written to the job summary.
- The marker is matched against the start of the first line, which is how
every `[skip tests]` commit in the
history is written.
Documented as rule 14 and the "CI policy" section of AGENTS.md and the
"Continuous Integration" section of
CONTRIBUTING.md.
## Actions usage, week of 2026-10-12 to 2026-10-18
Runner time summed from every job of every workflow run of
`apache/grails-core` in that week (5,032 runs,
38,077 executed jobs; the public repository reports no billable minutes, so
durations come from the jobs API).
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Total runner time | **16,968 h** (2,424 h per day, about 101 runners busy
around the clock) |
| From `pull_request` events | 14,510 h (85.5%) |
| From `push` events | 2,431 h (14.3%) |
| Test jobs | 15,117 h (89%) |
| Jobs cancelled by a newer push to the same pull request | 1,249 h (7%) |
| Linux / Windows / macOS | 15,443 h / 1,053 h / 472 h |
By workflow:
| Workflow | Runs | Runner hours | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| CI | 522 | 14,878 h | 87.7% |
| Groovy Snapshot Canary Build | 247 | 415 h | 2.4% |
| Build Health | 523 | 355 h | 2.1% |
| SiteMesh 2 Compatibility | 174 | 333 h | 2.0% |
| Coverage | 464 | 299 h | 1.8% |
| Code Style | 523 | 184 h | 1.1% |
| Code Analysis | 464 | 178 h | 1.0% |
| End to End | 464 | 154 h | 0.9% |
| everything else (CodeQL, Groovy joint, JMH, RAT, Release Drafter, Copilot
review, ...) | | 172 h | 1.0% |
By target branch (the branch pushed to, or the base of the pull request):
| Target | Runner hours | Share | Tests under this change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default branch and above (8.0.x, 8.1.x, 9.0.x, 9.1.x, 10.0.x) | 8,406 h
(7,481 h tests) | 49.5% | run, unless `[skip tests]` |
| Side branches, i.e. pull requests into `refactor/java-to-groovy-*` and
similar | 7,897 h (7,077 h tests) | 46.5% | only with `[run tests]` |
| Below the default branch (7.0.x, 7.1.x, 7.2.x) | 664 h (559 h tests) |
3.9% | only with `[run tests]` |
Cost of a single push:
| Event | Pushes | Mean runner hours per push |
|---|---|---|
| Push to a pull request (all workflows) | 357 (97 branches) | 41 h (median
44 h, max 92 h) |
| Push to 8.0.x / 8.1.x / 9.0.x / 9.1.x | 20 / 14 / 18 / 11 | 33 h / 36 h /
35 h / 27 h |
| Push to 7.0.x / 7.1.x / 7.2.x / 10.0.x | 14 / 7 / 8 / 5 | 5 h / 13 h / 14
h / 11 h |
The ten busiest pull-request branches consumed 4,800 h; the largest single
pull request (#16237) consumed 1,450 h in
the week. Pull requests that are drafts right now account for 594 h, but the
draft state at the time of each run is
not recorded, so the saving from the draft rule cannot be measured from
history.
**Expected effect.** Had this policy been active, the test jobs on
side-branch and 7.x targets (7,636 h, 45% of the
week) would have run only on commits marked `[run tests]`, and the draft and
`no ci` rules remove whole runs on
top of that. The remaining lever is the size of the CI matrix itself (a run
on a non-draft pull request into 8.x or
9.x costs about 40 runner-hours), which this change does not touch.
## Follow-ups
- Create the `no ci` and `run ci` labels in `apache/grails-core` (`gh label
create 'no ci'`, `gh label create 'run ci'`).
- On merge-up, 8.0.x and later carry more workflows with the old `[skip
tests]` check (`coverage.yml`, `end-to-end.yml`,
`groovy-snapshot-canary.yml`, `sitemesh2.yml`, and 19 occurrences in
`gradle.yml`): wire them to the `policy` job
the same way, and add the label-and-draft `if` to the non-test workflows
(`benchmark.yml`, `codeanalysis.yml`,
`validate-actions.yml`).
## Verification
- The workflow YAML was parsed and structure-checked (every `needs`, `uses`
and `needs.policy.outputs` reference
resolves); the policy script was run locally for pushes to 7.0.x, 7.2.x,
8.0.x, 8.1.x, 10.0.x and a side branch,
with and without each marker, and for a pull request and a dispatch,
including a fork pull request's head commit
read through the API.
- This pull request runs under its own workflows. Its head commit starts
with `[run tests]`, so the full matrix runs
once here and exercises the test-path wiring; without the marker a pull
request into 7.0.x gets the build-only run.
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