Main workflow (vishvananda/netlink)

The Main workflow from vishvananda/netlink, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Main workflow from the vishvananda/netlink repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its Apache-2.0 license.

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

The workflow

name: Main 

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:

  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Set up Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v5
      with:
        go-version: 1.23

    - name: Kernel Modules
      run: ./.github/scripts/modprobe.sh
      shell: bash

    - name: Test
      run: sudo -E env PATH=$PATH go test -v ./ ./nl

  build-macos:
    # netlink is Linux-only, but this ensures that netlink builds without error
    # on macOS, which helps catch missing build tags.
    runs-on: macos-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Set up Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v5
      with:
        go-version: 1.23
          
    - name: Build
      run: go build ./...

    - name: Test
      run: go test ./...

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Main 
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
 
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
    - name: Set up Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v5
      with:
        go-version: 1.23
 
    - name: Kernel Modules
      run: ./.github/scripts/modprobe.sh
      shell: bash
 
    - name: Test
      run: sudo -E env PATH=$PATH go test -v ./ ./nl
 
  build-macos:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    # netlink is Linux-only, but this ensures that netlink builds without error
    # on macOS, which helps catch missing build tags.
    runs-on: macos-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
    - name: Set up Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v5
      with:
        go-version: 1.23
          
    - name: Build
      run: go build ./...
 
    - name: Test
      run: go test ./...
 

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.

This workflow runs 2 jobs per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow