Episode #231
Introduction
In episode 231 of our SAP on Azure video podcast we talk about GitHub Actions.
Diviating little from classic SAP and Microsoft topics, we take a look at GitHub today. Millions of development projects are done on GitHub. In most cases – when I look at my own projects – it is just about pushing data to a GitHub repo and that’s it. Our SAPonAzurePodcast website is a small exception, where we do some automation. But you can do much, much more. Christian Lechner from SAP is THE expert on this for me. He has not only done some amazing things with Terraform and BTP, but also automated almost everything in his repos on GitHub with GitHub Actions.
Find all the links mentioned here: https://www.saponazurepodcast.de/episode231
Reach out to us for any feedback / questions:
- Robert Boban: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rboban/
- Goran Condric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorancondric/
- Holger Bruchelt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holger-bruchelt/
#Microsoft #SAP #Azure #SAPonAzure #GitHub #GitHubAction
Summary created by AI
- Holger introduced the episode, mentioning that it deviates from classic SAP and Microsoft topics, and welcomed Christian Lechner from SAP to discuss GitHub actions.
- Episode Introduction: Holger introduced the episode, noting that it deviates from the usual SAP and Microsoft topics. He welcomed Christian Lechner from SAP to discuss the extensive capabilities of GitHub actions.
- Guest Introduction: Holger welcomed Christian Lechner, highlighting his expertise in Terraform and GitHub actions, and expressed excitement about the insights Christian would share during the episode.
- Christian Lechner’s Background:
- Christian Lechner, a Development Architect at SAP, introduced himself and explained his focus on Terraform and making customers’ lives easier when using Terraform with SAP BTP.
- Professional Role: Christian Lechner introduced himself as a Development Architect at SAP, focusing on Terraform and its integration with SAP BTP to simplify customer experiences.
- Experience: Christian mentioned his extensive experience with Terraform, emphasizing his efforts to automate processes and improve efficiency for SAP customers.
- GitHub Actions Overview:
- Christian Lechner discussed the extensive capabilities of GitHub actions, including automation, code quality, and security improvements, and shared his experiences and blog post on the topic.
- Capabilities: Christian highlighted the extensive capabilities of GitHub actions, including automation, code quality, and security improvements, and shared his experiences and blog post on the topic.
- Automation Benefits: Christian explained how GitHub actions can automate repetitive tasks, improving efficiency and reducing manual effort in managing repositories.
- Code Quality: Christian discussed the importance of maintaining code quality through automated checks and workflows, ensuring high standards in development projects.
- Security Improvements: Christian emphasized the role of GitHub actions in enhancing security by automating dependency updates and code quality checks.
- Dependabot and Code QL:
- Christian Lechner explained the importance of using Dependabot for updating dependencies and Code QL for code quality checks in GitHub repositories.
- Dependabot: Christian explained how Dependabot helps in automatically checking for updates in dependencies, ensuring that projects remain up-to-date and secure.
- Code QL: Christian described Code QL as a tool for analyzing code quality and security, highlighting its importance in maintaining high standards in code repositories.
- Implementation: Christian provided details on how to implement Dependabot and Code QL in GitHub repositories, including the use of YAML for configuration.
- Link Checker and Spell Checker:
- Christian Lechner demonstrated the use of GitHub actions for checking links and spelling in repositories, emphasizing the importance of maintaining quality in documentation.
- Link Checker: Christian demonstrated the use of a GitHub action to automatically check for broken links in documentation, ensuring that all links remain functional.
- Spell Checker: Christian showed how to implement a spell checker using GitHub actions to maintain the quality of documentation by identifying and correcting spelling errors.
- Quality Maintenance: Christian emphasized the importance of maintaining high-quality documentation through automated checks, which help in identifying and fixing issues promptly.
- Issue and Pull Request Automation:
- Christian Lechner showcased how GitHub actions can automate issue and pull request management, including assigning labels, projects, milestones, and handling stale issues.
- Issue Management: Christian explained how GitHub actions can automate the management of issues by assigning labels, projects, and milestones, reducing manual effort.
- Pull Request Automation: Christian demonstrated the automation of pull request processes, including assigning reviewers, setting labels, and linking issues to pull requests.
- Handling Stale Issues: Christian described the process of handling stale issues using GitHub actions, which automatically mark and close issues that do not receive responses within a specified timeframe.
- Testing and Releasing Workflows:
- Christian Lechner described the workflows for testing and releasing code, including running tests, building projects, and generating release notes automatically.
- Testing Workflows: Christian detailed the workflows for running tests on code changes, ensuring that all code meets quality standards before being merged.
- Building Projects: Christian explained the process of building projects using GitHub actions, automating the compilation and packaging of code.
- Release Notes: Christian described how release notes are automatically generated using GitHub actions, summarizing the changes and updates in each release.
- Getting Started with GitHub Actions:
- Holger and Christian discussed how to get started with GitHub actions, including using the provided examples and documentation, and the challenges of running actions locally.
- Starting Point: Christian recommended using the provided examples and GitHub documentation as a starting point for implementing GitHub actions in projects.
- Local Execution: Christian discussed the challenges of running GitHub actions locally, mentioning the use of the ACT tool to simulate actions in a local environment.
- Documentation: Christian emphasized the importance of referring to GitHub’s comprehensive documentation to understand and implement various actions effectively.
- 0:00 Intro
- 1:00 Introducing CHristian Lechner
- 3:15 BTP Terraformprovider leveraging GitHub Actions
- 4:40 Blog post - Automating an Open Source Project with GitHub Actions
- 6:05 Terraform exporter btp as an example
- 7:00 Looking at .github in Visual Studio Code
- 10:25 CodeQl checks
- 12:20 Periodic link checker
- 31:10 mark issues as stale and automatically close it
- 36:00 challanges with dependabot
- 41:00 Release notes
- 42:30 GitHub Projects