github.ref is empty for workflows triggered by release

[paolonevis]

With the following step:

    - name: Determining the version number
      if: ${{ github.event_name == 'release' }}
      id: version_number
      run: |
        if [[ "${{ github.ref }}" == refs/tags/release/* ]] ; then
            current_version=$( echo ${{ github.ref }} | cut -c19- )
            echo "version_number=${current_version}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
        else
            echo "::error ::Could not determine the version number using ref ${{ github.ref }}"
            exit 1
        fi

I'd expect that the github.ref contains the release tag created (as described in https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/contexts#github-context), but I get an empty github.ref (here the extract from the raw log):

2023-08-23T09:37:27.3087882Z ##[group]Run if [[ "" == refs/tags/release/* ]] ; then
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3088257Z �[36;1mif [[ "" == refs/tags/release/* ]] ; then�[0m
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3088599Z �[36;1m    current_version=$( echo  | cut -c19- )�[0m
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3088944Z �[36;1m    echo "version_number=${current_version}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT�[0m
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3089250Z �[36;1melse�[0m
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3089574Z �[36;1m    echo "::error ::Could not determine the version number using ref "�[0m
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3089900Z �[36;1m    exit 1�[0m
2023-08-23T09:37:27.3090122Z �[36;1mfi�[0m

This did work 3 weeks ago with runner version: '2.307.1'.

OS of the machine running the runner: linux

Runner version: 2.308.0

[mike-carey]

I can confirm that this also used to work for us and recently broke. We are going to have to change a lot of workflows if we need to implement the workaround which is to use a different variable: github.event.head_commit.ref. It appears it is not just on release that this is causing issues.

Related threads:

• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/64528
• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/64817

[slayoo]

Same here, our PyPI uploads stopped to work in August, we are using:

    - if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags')
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@unstable/v1

(https://github.com/open-atmos/PyPartMC/blob/main/.github/workflows/tests%2Bpypi.yml)

[mariuszste]

the GITHUB_REF env variable is also empty

[kakuzei]

This issue has a significant impact on the delivery of the application I am working on.
The behavior is quite weird: sometimes the GITHUB_REF environment variable is well populated, sometimes it is empty.
Could someone from GitHub provide a clear status about this issue?
When this issue will be fixed?
Is there a workaround we can setup in the meantime?

Thanks

[flaxel]

A possible workaround could be the usage of the release event. 🙌 Then you can get the version with the following path: github.event.release.tag_name.

[sangdth]

Currently I'm trying to get the PR number from GITHUB_REF, my workflows is triggered by the deployment_status, and after 3 hours I found out it is empty.