Skip to content

Conversation

@petetan
Copy link
Contributor

@petetan petetan commented Aug 12, 2025

Problem

Fixes #3

The action was failing with this error in GitHub Actions environments:

Error: Failed to analyze repository changes: Repository validation failed: Git command failed: symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD

Root Cause

GitHub Actions checkout doesn't automatically set up the symbolic reference refs/remotes/origin/HEAD that points to the default branch. The git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD command fails because this reference isn't established during the checkout process.

This is a common issue in GitHub Actions environments where repositories are cloned with specific configurations that may not include all traditional git references.

Solution

  • Simplified default branch detection: Instead of complex symbolic-ref lookup, use the current branch when available and fallback to 'main'
  • More robust validation: The exact default branch name isn't critical for the action's core functionality
  • Better error handling: Graceful fallback instead of hard failure

Changes

  • Modified validateRepository() method in GitOperations class
  • Removed complex getDefaultBranch() method with multiple fallback strategies
  • Use current branch detection with safe 'main' fallback
  • Updated error handling to be more resilient

Testing

  • ✅ Builds successfully without lint errors
  • ✅ Follows conventional commit format for automatic version detection
  • ✅ Should resolve the GitHub Actions symbolic-ref error

Impact

This fix ensures the action works properly in standard GitHub Actions environments where symbolic references may not be set up, while maintaining functionality for repositories with proper git configuration.

References:

Fixes #3

- Replace symbolic-ref based default branch detection with more robust approach
- Use current branch when available, fallback to 'main' if not
- Fixes 'symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD' error in GitHub Actions environments
- Removes complex getDefaultBranch method in favor of simpler validation

The issue occurs because GitHub Actions checkout doesn't set up symbolic
references properly, causing the action to fail during repository validation.

This fix ensures the action works in all GitHub Actions environments while
maintaining functionality for repositories with proper git configuration.
@petetan petetan force-pushed the fix/git-symbolic-ref-error branch from 5105de5 to 7a868aa Compare August 12, 2025 00:52
@petetan petetan changed the title fix: handle missing symbolic-ref for default branch detection fix: handle missing symbolic-ref for default branch detection (fixes #3) Aug 12, 2025
- Update mocks to use rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD instead of symbolic-ref
- Add test cases for fallback behavior when branch detection fails
- Add test for detached HEAD scenario
- All tests now pass with the new implementation
@petetan petetan merged commit ade8e5e into main Aug 12, 2025
1 check passed
@petetan petetan deleted the fix/git-symbolic-ref-error branch August 12, 2025 01:00
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

Bug: Git symbolic-ref error in GitHub Actions environments

2 participants