Action fails for remote repository where branch ${GITHUB_REF} does not exist

[haertale]

I use the action in a workflow job, where the result (a value) of a previous job is committed to a file in a remote repository. The repository of the workflow is not related to the remote repository at all (eg. one is not a fork of the other etc.).

The workflow looks like this:

name: Example workflow with remote repository

jobs:

  <multiple previous jobs>

  update-remote-repos:

    name: Update remote repository
    needs: <previous job>
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout remote repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          repository: user/remote-repository
          token: ${{ secrets.PAT }}
          ref: some-branch

      - name: Update some file
        run: <modify ./some/file.dat>

      - Commit & push changes to remote repository
        uses: GuillaumeFalourd/git-commit-push@v1
        with:
          target_branch: some-branch
          file: ./some/file.dat
          access_token: ${{ secrets.PAT }}

The action will fail in case the workflow is triggered by a branch (eg. main) that does not exist in the remote repository - in the example above the job operating on the remote repository is working on a branch called some-branch, and let's assume that's the only branch of that repository.

Specifically the git fetch command will fail

git-commit-push/action.yml

Line 92 in 80a3d07

git fetch "${{ inputs.remote_repository }}" "$CURRENT_BRANCH"

as the script assumes the branch that triggered the workflow run is the current branch of the remote repository:

git-commit-push/action.yml

Line 58 in 80a3d07

CURRENT_BRANCH=${GITHUB_REF}

In other words, the script does not respect the branch that was specified during checkout of a remote repository using actions/checkout.

[GuillaumeFalourd]

Thank you for opening the issue @haertale 👍🏼

Did this issue also happen using the @v1.3 release tag, informing the remote_repository input?

I observed you used the @v1 in the example you gave, and some fixes has been implemented regarding the remote repository branches since then.