getting debug information

[earl-warren]

I'm trying to figure out how to use https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release and it fails with

[Main/build] [DEBUG] Extracting content from '/tmp/act2147392109' to '/var/run/act/actions/https---github.com-softprops-action-gh-release@v1/'
[Main/build] [DEBUG] executing remote job container: [node /var/run/act/actions/https---github.com-softprops-action-gh-release@v1/dist/index.js]
[Main/build]   🐳  docker exec cmd=[node /var/run/act/actions/https---github.com-softprops-action-gh-release@v1/dist/index.js] user= workdir=
[Main/build] [DEBUG] Exec command '[node /var/run/act/actions/https---github.com-softprops-action-gh-release@v1/dist/index.js]'
[Main/build] [DEBUG] Working directory '/tmp/test-gh-release'
[Main/build]   ❗  ::error::Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf')
[Main/build]   ❌  Failure - Main Release
[Main/build] exitcode '1': failure
[Main/build] [DEBUG] skipping post step for 'Checkout': no action model available
[Main/build] 🏁  Job failed
[Main/build] [DEBUG] Found revision: 62b483ce290f1b20ab3751e9b540898e08bba6eb
Error: Job 'build' failed

Is there a way to get a stack trace for [Main/build] ❗ ::error::Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf')? It is likely not ACT but the action itself failing because of ... don't know what.

name: Main

on: push

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Build
        run: echo ${{ github.sha }} > Release.txt
      - name: Test
        run: cat Release.txt
      - name: Release
        uses: https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release@v1
        with:
          files: Release.txt

and run with:

$ git clone https://code.forgejo.org/earl-warren/test-gh-release
$ cd test-gh-release
$ act --actor earl-warren/test-gh-release --github-instance code.forgejo.org --env ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG=true --env GITHUB_REF=refs/tags/v1.1.1 --secret GITHUB_TOKEN=xyz -W .forgejo/workflows/try.yml

Any idea?

[ChristopherHX]

I also get that error with gitea and not using act.

##[group]Run softprops/action-gh-release@v1
with:
  files: Release.txt
  token: ***
##[endgroup]
👩‍🏭 Creating new GitHub release for tag v0.0.0-test1...
##[error]Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf')
##[debug]Node Action run completed with exit code 1
##[debug]Finishing: Release

My conclusion is start act in a javascript debug terminal (Use the -P label=-self-hosted backend) to debug break in any nodejs action and fix the action or giteas rest api compliance.

Sometimes a small detail, e.g. a missing shortcut url field in the json response can bring some actions to blow up.

[earl-warren]

start act in a javascript debug terminal...

Thanks for the advice. How can I do that exactly? This is not something I'm familiar with.

[ChristopherHX]

I use vscode, it is described here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/nodejs/nodejs-debugging#_javascript-debug-terminal

You will get problems if the js action is minified.

[ChristopherHX]

then run act in that terminal

[earl-warren]

You will get problems if the js action is minified.

I managed to get more information by doing the following:

• git clone https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release in a subdirectory
• change the step to uses: ./action-gh-release
• remove the try that hides the stack trace
• npm run build

And now I have:

 TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'indexOf')
|     at uploadUrl (/tmp/test-gh-release/action-gh-release/dist/index.js:7:122542)
|     at /tmp/test-gh-release/action-gh-release/dist/index.js:7:121342
|     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)
|     at /tmp/test-gh-release/action-gh-release/dist/index.js:7:120118
|     at new Promise (<anonymous>)
|     at t (/tmp/test-gh-release/action-gh-release/dist/index.js:7:119865)
|     at /tmp/test-gh-release/action-gh-release/dist/index.js:7:121263
|     at Array.map (<anonymous>)
|     at /tmp/test-gh-release/action-gh-release/dist/index.js:7:121255
|     at Generator.next (<anonymous>)

It is obscure but there is one more clue. It happens here because the url argument is undefined.

[earl-warren]

It is a Forgejo compatibility problem: the release API endpoint is missing the upload_url field https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/issues/580

Thanks for the guidance @ChristopherHX: I do not have VSCode but now I figured out a way to debug actions and it will be useful going forward.

[ChristopherHX]

I had modified an long discontinued official action (actions/create-release) (2 year ago) to upload releases, same field. To bypass this problem in 2021.

const URL = require('whatwg-url');

if(uploadUrl) {
  core.setOutput('upload_url', uploadUrl);
} else {
  var url = URL.parseURL(htmlUrl);
  var host = url.scheme + "://" + url.host;
  if(url.port) {
    host += ":" + url.port;
  }
  core.setOutput('upload_url', host + "/api/v1/repos/" + owner + "/" + repo + "/releases/" + releaseId + "/assets/{?name}");
}