🔙 Go back home

Introduction to the Three Pipelines

This repository utilizes three distinct GitHub Actions pipelines to automate key processes: Build Packages, Build Pages, and Prepare and Deploy Artifact. Each pipeline serves a specific purpose, ensuring efficient workflows for package management, documentation generation, and artifact deployment. Below is an overview of each pipeline and its role in the overall workflow.

---

1. Build Packages Pipeline

The Build Packages pipeline is responsible for building Arch Linux packages from PKGBUILD files and managing a repository database. This pipeline ensures that your package repository remains up-to-date with minimal manual intervention.

Key Features:

• Selective Building: Detects changes in the repository and rebuilds only the affected packages, improving efficiency.
• Artifact Management: Downloads the latest artifact from previous runs to reuse existing packages and avoid redundant builds.
• Repository Management: Automatically updates the repository database (OwlArchRepo.db.tar.gz) with valid packages.
• Error Handling: Includes fallback mechanisms for scenarios where no artifact exists or invalid packages are encountered.

Use Case:

This pipeline is ideal for maintaining an Arch Linux package repository. It automates the detection of changes, builds packages, and updates the repository database, ensuring consistency and reliability.

View the full GitHub Actions pipeline →

2. Build Pages Pipeline

The Build Pages pipeline focuses on generating static HTML pages using Jekyll. It processes Markdown files from various directories and organizes them into a cohesive structure for hosting on GitHub Pages.

Key Features:

• Markdown File Processing: Copies .markdown files from extra and ownSoftware directories into the pages directory while preserving their folder structure.
• Jekyll Integration: Uses Jekyll to generate static HTML pages from Markdown content, making it suitable for documentation or blog sites.
• Artifact Management: Uploads the generated site as an artifact for reuse in downstream workflows, such as deployment to GitHub Pages.
• Efficient Dependency Management: Leverages Bundler caching to speed up dependency installation during subsequent runs.

Use Case:

This pipeline is designed for automating the generation of a Jekyll-based static site hosted on GitHub Pages. It ensures that your documentation or content remains organized and up-to-date, even when managing content across multiple directories.

View the full GitHub Actions pipeline →

3. Prepare and Deploy Artifact Pipeline

The Prepare and Deploy Artifact pipeline combines artifacts from the Build Pages and Build Packages pipelines and deploys them to GitHub Pages. This pipeline ensures that both documentation and downloadable assets are hosted together on a unified site.

Key Features:

• Manual Triggering: Allows flexibility in specifying the artifacts and pipeline IDs for deployment.
• Artifact Management: Combines artifacts from two separate workflows (page generation and package build) into a single directory (pages) for deployment.
• Environment Configuration: Configures the github-pages environment with appropriate permissions and outputs the deployed site’s URL.
• Verification: Includes a step to list the contents of the pages directory, ensuring that the artifacts are correctly downloaded before proceeding.

Use Case:

This pipeline is ideal for deploying a GitHub Pages site that hosts both documentation and downloadable assets (e.g., ISOs or binaries). By combining artifacts from multiple upstream workflows, it creates a unified site that provides users with easy access to all resources.

View the full GitHub Actions pipeline →

Workflow Overview

1. Build Packages:
   • Detects changes in the repository and builds Arch Linux packages.
   • Updates the repository database with valid packages.
2. Build Pages:
   • Processes Markdown files and generates a static site using Jekyll.
   • Uploads the generated site as an artifact.
3. Prepare and Deploy Artifact:
   • Combines artifacts from the Build Pages and Build Packages pipelines.
   • Deploys the combined artifacts to GitHub Pages.

---

By leveraging these three pipelines, this repository achieves a fully automated workflow for managing packages, generating documentation, and deploying resources. Each pipeline plays a critical role in ensuring that the project remains maintainable, efficient, and user-friendly.