Provide arguments to docker container in composite GitHub action - docker

Question

I'm trying to pass some dynamically created arguments within a composite GitHub Action.
The documentation however is lacking examples on how to pass arguments in this case to the docker container.
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/creating-actions/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#runsstepsuses
See here the thing I'm trying to achieve.
runs:
using: 'composite'
steps:
- name: compose arguments
id: compose-args
shell: bash
run: |
encoded_github="$(echo '${{ inputs.github_context }}' | base64)"
encoded_runner="$(echo '${{ inputs.runner_context }}' | base64)"
args=('${{ inputs.command }}')
args+=('${{ inputs.subcommand }}')
args+=('--github-context')
args+=("${encoded_github}")
args+=('--runner-context')
args+=("${encoded_runner}")
args+=('${{ inputs.arguments }}')
echo "::set-output name=provenance_args::$(echo "[$(printf "\"%s\"," ${args[*]})]" | sed 's/,]$/]/')"
- name: Debug arguments
shell: bash
run: |
echo Running slsa-provenance with following arguments
echo ${{ steps.compose-args.outputs.provenance_args }}
- uses: 'docker://ghcr.io/philips-labs/slsa-provenance:v0.5.0-draft'
with:
args: ${{ fromJSON(steps.compose-args.outputs.provenance_args) }}
fromJSON is giving me a JSON object from the composed array of bash arguments. I made the assumption this uses: 'docker://…part should receive it's arguments in the same way a docker based action would receive.
e.g.:
runs:
using: 'docker'
image: 'docker://ghcr.io/philips-labs/slsa-provenance:v0.4.0'
args:
- "generate"
- '${{ inputs.subcommand }}'
- "-artifact_path"
- '${{ inputs.artifact_path }}'
- "-output_path"
- '${{ inputs.output_path }}'
- "-github_context"
- '${{ inputs.github_context }}'
- "-runner_context"
- '${{ inputs.runner_context }}'
- "-tag_name"
- '${{ inputs.tag_name }}'
Unfortunately I'm getting the following error in the GitHub actions workflow.
The template is not valid. philips-labs/slsa-provenance-action/v0.5.0-draft/action.yaml (Line: 47, Col: 15): A sequence was not expected
See here the workflow. https://github.com/philips-labs/slsa-provenance-action/runs/4618706311?check_suite_focus=true
How can I resolve this error?
Is it resolvable with current approach?
Is this a missing feature?
What would be an alternative?

Answer 1

Take a look at this GitHub Action https://github.com/mr-smithers-excellent/docker-build-push
it has buildArgs as an input so it can be a solution for your case
for instance:
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
name: Check out the code
- uses: mr-smithers-excellent/docker-build-push#v5
name: Build & push Docker image
with:
image: repo/image
tags: v1, latest
registry: registry-url.io
dockerfile: ./your/path/Dockerfile
buildArgs: Test=true

Answer 2

I think you can just run via bash command:
- name: pull image
shell: bash
run: |
docker pull ghcr.io/philips-labs/slsa-provenance:v0.4.0
- name: run container
shell: bash
run: |
docker run --rm -i \
--workdir /github/workspace \
-v "/var/run/docker.sock":"/var/run/docker.sock" \
-v ${{ runner.temp }}/_github_home:"/github/home" \
-v ${{ github.workflow }}:"/github/workflow" \
-v ${{ runner.temp }}/_runner_file_commands:"/github/file_commands" \
-v ${{ github.workspace }}:"/github/workspace" \
ghcr.io/philips-labs/slsa-provenance:v0.4.0 \ # image
generate \ # start pass the args here, after the image
${{ inputs.subcommand }} \
-artifact_path ${{ inputs.artifact_path }} \
-output_path ${{ inputs.output_path }} \
-github_context ${{ inputs.github_context }} \
-runner_context ${{ inputs.runner_context }} \
-tag_name ${{ inputs.tag_name }}