GitHub Launches 'Actions' -- Code That Can Be Run (and Maybe Monetized) (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader quotes TechCrunch: For the longest time, GitHub was all about storing source code and sharing it either with the rest of the world or your colleagues. Today, the company, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, is taking a step in a different but related direction by launching GitHub Actions. Actions allow developers to not just host code on the platform but also run it. We're not talking about a new cloud to rival AWS here, but instead about something more akin to a very flexible IFTTT for developers who want to automate their development workflows, whether that is sending notifications or building a full continuous integration and delivery pipeline.

This is a big deal for GitHub. Indeed, Sam Lambert, GitHub's head of platform, described it to me as "the biggest shift we've had in the history of GitHub... I see Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery as one narrow use case of actions. It's so, so much more," Lambert stressed. "And I think it's going to revolutionize DevOps because people are now going to build best in breed deployment workflows for specific applications and frameworks, and those become the de facto standard shared on GitHub... It's going to do everything we did for open source again for the DevOps space and for all those different parts of that workflow ecosystem...."

Over time -- and Lambert seemed to be in favor of this -- GitHub could also allow developers to sell their workflows and Actions through the GitHub marketplace. For now, that's not an option, but it it's definitely that's something the company has been thinking about. Lambert also noted that this could be a way for open source developers who don't want to build an enterprise version of their tools (and the sales force that goes with that) to monetize their efforts.

Comments

Soooo

[Anonymous Coward]

Github is a host now.

Not really special.

Re: Soooo

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed. I believe Gitlab already supports this.

Revolutionize DevOps? Go from bad to worse?

[Anonymous Coward]

As in "Our standards aren't low enough! We need to drive reliability and robustness even lower!"

DevOps!

When you're too cheap and incompetent to get it right, you throw buzzwords at your problems!

MS controlling what code can and cannot be run

[themusicgod1]

If this becomes widespread, it gives microsoft direct control over the platform which code is run. Given the history of microsoft, we should expect them to try to push in this direction. This is the sort of thing that could lose you the right to read. Avoid like the plague.

Re:MS controlling what code can and cannot be run

[Anonymous Coward]

Fight the M$ power! My mind is so made up from what I saw in or read about the '90s that I cannot fathom that the company is dramatically different from what it used to be and represent, nor can I understand that the competitive landscape has changed even more dramatically since the last two major recessions.

If this becomes widespread, it gives microsoft direct control over the platform which code is run.

No, it doesn't need to become widespread. Once GitHub is officially under the Microsoft brand, then they have full control.

Given the history of microsoft, we should expect them to try to push in this direction.

Push in what direction? The direction where "actions" are controlled by the entity invoking them? AKA the inherent definition of them already. What history are we talking about? The one thing that Microsoft been the most honest and effective on has always been developer support. They will seek to monetize this, as would GitHub if they remained independent for longer, but that's called running a business and not a charity.

This is the sort of thing that could lose you the right to read.

I have read this sentence five times and I am still not sure what you mean by the "right to read". The code? The "action"? Do you even know what you're talking about? Do you even remotely understand open source?

Avoid like the plague.

Enjoy GitLab. Hope you've got regular backups.

Re:MS controlling what code can and cannot be run

[Anonymous Coward]

Few things need to be said.

First, there are extremely valid reasons why sticking it to the man and maintaining that attitude is a good idea. Namely, if the man doesn't need to be nice and compete, the man tends to turn into a total horrorshow, and then an actual, bonfide horrorshow ensues. See: The last 200 years of history.

Second, IFTTT suffers from the same issue most of these online services suffer from which is that they do not want the end users to understand any of the underlying data structure or information being gathered and used, nor do they want the end users understanding how to think in those terms. Famous example: Microsoft hiding file extensions on Windows Vista on up by default, and hiding the filesystem structure behind Buttons and apps.

Instead of building a simple, extensible system modeled after a literal physical filing cabinete (think about that for a long moment), we instead build an appliance for conveniences that isn't particularily good at doing any one of those things. Instead of providing users a simple components upon which to build a complete solution, we instead hide that solution behind layers of BS and settings that have to get turned on so that we can present to them Windows Media Player. Which was mediocre and nobody used it.

What is the motivation for hiding functionality and turning windows into a swiss army knife?

Microsoft is not building products or services. They are building products which turn their customers into products and services for themselves. If they were just building a product or providing a service, they'd be a far smaller company, and would produce a vastly superior system.

"You gotta keep up with the times man!". I see some Narcissist has been given a believable lie and will follow that lie around like a cat following a laser into whatever travesty the owner points it.

What do we do with products when we are done with them?

*Que throwing his empty fizzy pop bottle into the trash*

Please use your brain.

Re:MS controlling what code can and cannot be run

[Anonymous Coward]

Please use your brain, sir, if you have one

Re:MS controlling what code can and cannot be run

[Anonymous Coward]

Name one way in which Microsoft has changed for the better, that is real, and not just theatre.

Pro-tip: You can't. Because it hasn't happened.

Dirty shill.

First make it more like an IDE

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to be able to jump to definitions of methods and classes like an IDE in the browser. That would actually be useful. Running actions on Github? Who cares.

IFTTT?

[ArchieBunker]

Yeah we all know what that means.

Re:IFTTT?

[Dutch Gun]

It took me a few moments to recognize it as well. "If This Then That". The acronym is, I believe, based on a site of the same name that monitors other websites, and allows them to trigger changes in your own online "apps". It's essentially a shorthand for saying "user programmable triggers hosted in the cloud".

Re:IFTTT?

[Dutch Gun]

You should, if you dont you are considered more jr as a dev, or at least that has been th case in most of my roles since its release.

Not every dev does web programming, you sanctimonious ass.

Re:IFTTT?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that bassically the whole definition of "if"?

Re:IFTTT?

[raftpeople]

Yes, because everyone should know how to connect their Ecobee thermostat to their Lightwave RF Space Heater.

My manager at work told me to work on some stupid project integrating SAP with our DC conveyor system, but I said "dude, that's whack, if we're not kicking out some serious recipes on IFTTT then we're getting left behind!"

Microsoft Arrived with a Bone Saw

[Anonymous Coward]

If this is such a great idea, create an independent site to try it out.
Don't screw with the best commons that open source developers have.
This is using GitHub to try and hide your real intentions.
Go Away!!

Time to leave Github

[Anonymous Coward]

Past time, actually.

Re:Time to leave Github

[Anonymous Coward]

I left Github for Bitbucket when Github got overrun by the SJW.

It is better than Github and has free private repos.

Github should be dead by MS's hand in a year or two thankfully.

numbnuts

Github is morphing into

[Anonymous Coward]

Sharepoint.
Or Github is going to replace Sharepoint. I can't decide which. What I do know is that MS will screw it up big time.
My code is long gone from GitHub.

Only LUDDITES use actions.

[Anonymous Coward]

Modern app appers use apptions!

Apps!

A company that has a good "workflow"

[Anonymous Coward]

- doesn't host stuff on github.com
- has their own data centers with redundancy
- can afford this easily
- has a clear division of labor between their rockstar coders and the toilet-cleaning hardware janitors
- explains to the boxmovers: "You don't do 'DevOps', you fat, balding shithead. Hardware fails or changes, and you replace it, until we replace you"

Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Best in breed" ?

Is that really the phrase you want to use here, *Sam*?

Heroku says game on bitches

[Anonymous Coward]

more competition is good and in this case there are already a nice small number of application platforms

Embrace, Extend...

[Anonymous Coward]

Embrace, Extend...

Security

[PhotoGuy]

Security Nightmare???

Re:Security

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't have Consumer Data Bonanza without Security Nightmare.

Re:Security

[93 Escort Wagon]

Security Nightmare???

Nah, how could incorporating third-party actions, running on a server you don’t manage or control, into your devops workflow be a security issue?

You’re being needlessly paranoid.

now everybody can benefit from..

[Anonymous Coward]

microsoft's system of 'ship first-fix later-never test' (SF/FL/NT) with github's new continuous delivery system (CI/CD) that will automatically compile and package your program or project for distribution, and push out automatic updates to every active install, every time someone uploads a patch or new code or a merge is done. #WCPGW

Terraform Tho....

[Anonymous Coward]

https://www.terraform.io/docs/github-actions/index.html

Buzzword Bingo

[Cmdln Daco]

people are now going to build best in breed deployment workflows for specific applications and frameworks, and those become the de facto standard shared

yikes!

Will Microsoft ruin GitHub?

[Anonymous Coward]

Today, the company, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, ...

Is that the death of GitHub?

Microsoft is poorly managed? Plenty of evidence.

[Futurepower(R)]

"microsoft's system of 'ship first-fix later-never test' (SF/FL/NT)"

Microsoft is poorly managed. There is plenty of evidence for that:

Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC." (Aug. 4, 2015)

Microsoft's Intolerable Windows 10 Aggression (May 27, 2016)

Microsoft is infesting Windows 10 with annoying ads (March 17, 2017)

Microsoft, stop sabotaging Windows 10. (March 21, 2017)

Not really, no.

[Qbertino]

Dude, chill. It's a process automation tool like Apple Automator or Gulp or something. If they change functionality or start locking in, it takes less than an hour to migrate your stuff back to bash, Gradle, Python or whatever your pipeline is built on.

Re: Not really, no.

[phantomfive]

I think you underestimate how convoluted most people's process automation setups really are.

Nope.

[Qbertino]

I know at least one high profile technology driven company that hosts *everything* on GitHub. I mean *everything*. Their secrets are encrypted though. But stored on GitHub.

They're doing pretty well and AFAICT their pipeline is as good as it gets.

The cool thing about Github is that it's hardly more than Git with a webgui that everybody knows. Meaning you can transition your entire pipeline to something else and self-hosted with a few mouseclicks and a little shell-scripting.

I think it looks promising.

[Qbertino]

Finally a process automator that doesn't use obscure bloated JSON/YAML stuff but a neat visual point-and-click modeller to build your pipeline. I'm definitely going to try it out. I wouldn't be surprised if you can even export the processes as JS or something.

As for MS, I like some of what they've been doing lately and they've even got a little Karma back with me. VS Code and TypeScript are two pretty neat FOSS projects, you have to give them that. And this from someone for whom the last MS thing he used was Win2K.

Re:Microsoft is poorly managed? Plenty of evidence

[bluegutang]

Is this bad management? Or just evil management?

Meaning

[sproketboy]

"Today, the company, which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft,"

the company, which is in the process of becoming garbage.