draft-pdf workflow (VincentStimper/normalizing-flows)

The draft-pdf workflow from VincentStimper/normalizing-flows, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the draft-pdf workflow from the VincentStimper/normalizing-flows repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its MIT license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'paper/**'
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'paper/**'

jobs:
  paper:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Paper Draft
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Build draft PDF
        uses: openjournals/openjournals-draft-action@master
        with:
          journal: joss
          # This should be the path to the paper within your repo.
          paper-path: paper/paper.md
      - name: Upload
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v1
        with:
          name: paper
          # This is the output path where Pandoc will write the compiled
          # PDF. Note, this should be the same directory as the input
          # paper.md
          path: paper/paper.pdf

The same workflow, on Latchkey

Removes redundant runs and caps runaway jobs. Added and changed lines are highlighted.

on:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'paper/**'
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'paper/**'
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  paper:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    name: Paper Draft
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Build draft PDF
        uses: openjournals/openjournals-draft-action@master
        with:
          journal: joss
          # This should be the path to the paper within your repo.
          paper-path: paper/paper.md
      - name: Upload
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v1
        with:
          name: paper
          # This is the output path where Pandoc will write the compiled
          # PDF. Note, this should be the same directory as the input
          # paper.md
          path: paper/paper.pdf
 

What changed

• Run on Latchkey managed runners with one line (runs-on), which apply the fixes below automatically and self-heal transient failures. This example uses latchkey-small; pick the runner size that fits the job.
• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
• Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

1 third-party action is referenced by a movable tag. Pin it to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

This workflow runs 1 job per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow