GitHub Action to Release Cross Platform Rust Executable
By Apollo-Roboto |
+Published
Rust
+GitHub Actions
+Tutorial
In this post, I’ll be releasing Rust binaries for both Windows and Linux. Most of the example here could be applied to other languages too.
Triggering the Workflow
Create a workflow file at .github/workflows/release.yml.
Since each releases on GitHub must be associated with a Git tag. We’ll use them as our trigger for the workflow.
name: Release
+
+on:
+ push:
+ tags:
+ - "*.*.*"
+
+# enables colors in the log output during builds
+env:
+ CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
Building the Executables Jobs
Let’s create jobs to build on each platform. We will also upload the created binaries to make them accessible later on.
jobs:
+ build_windows:
+ name: Build Windows
+ runs-on: windows-latest
+
+ steps:
+ - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+ - name: Build
+ run: cargo build --release
+
+ - name: Upload Window Executable
+ uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+ with:
+ name: 'windows-${{ github.ref_name }}'
+ path: '${{ github.workspace }}/target/release/amazing-software.exe'
+ if-no-files-found: error
+ retention-days: 1
+
+ build_linux:
+ name: Build Linux
+ runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+ steps:
+ - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+ - name: Build
+ run: cargo build --release
+
+ - name: Upload Linux Executable
+ uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+ with:
+ name: 'linux-${{ github.ref_name }}'
+ path: '${{ github.workspace }}/target/release/amazing-software'
+ if-no-files-found: error
+ retention-days: 1
The Cargo flag --release is to optimize the compilation for release. This usually results in smaller and faster software.
The artifacts should be named after their platform and the current tag name. windows-${{ github.ref_name }} will become windows-1.1.0.
⚠ Notice how the Linux executable doesn’t have an extension like Windows’s .exe. Make sure to build locally and validate the name and location of your executables.
The retention days of the artifact is lowered to 1 because we’ll only use them during this workflow.
The Release Job
This job will download all artifacts we’ve published to add them on the release page for anyone to download.
Before we start writing this job, we need the workflow to have permissions to create new releases.
- From the repository on GitHub.
- Go to “Settings” > “Actions” > “General” > “Workflow permissions”.
- Select “Read and write permissions” and click “Save”.
There are three steps to this release: download the previously built executables, zip them in a user friendly way and release them on GitHub.
We’ll use a third party action called softprops/action-gh-release to create the release. Feel free to checkout their repository.
release:
+ name: Create Release
+ runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+ needs:
+ - build_windows
+ - build_linux
+
+ steps:
+ - name: Download Executables
+ uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+ with:
+ path: '${{ github.workspace }}/artifacts'
+
+ - name: Zip Executables
+ run: |
+ pushd "${{ github.workspace }}/artifacts"
+ for dir in ./*/; do
+ dir_name=$(basename "$dir");
+ zip_file="./$dir_name.zip";
+ zip -r "$zip_file" "$dir_name";
+ done
+ popd
+
+ - name: Release
+ uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
+ with:
+ body: New release!
+ files: ${{ github.workspace }}/artifacts/*.zip
With the needs property, this job won’t start until the two builds are completed.
If you’d like to include a file for the text of the release page (like a changelog). You can add a checkout step and use the body_path parameter from softprops/action-gh-release.
Making a Release
Now that we have our workflow file. Let’s ship a release! All you need to do is push a new Git tag.
git tag "0.1.0"
+git push --tag
The workflow will start right away.
Here is what the release looks like when completed. All binaries are easily accessible and properly named.
That’s it! In case you need the full workflow file for reference.
name: Release
+
+on:
+ push:
+ tags:
+ - "*.*.*"
+
+env:
+ CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
+
+jobs:
+ build_windows:
+ name: Build Windows
+ runs-on: windows-latest
+
+ steps:
+ - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+ - name: Build
+ run: cargo build --release
+
+ - name: Upload Window Executable
+ uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+ with:
+ name: 'windows-${{ github.ref_name }}'
+ path: '${{ github.workspace }}/target/release/amazing-software.exe'
+ if-no-files-found: error
+ retention-days: 1
+
+ build_linux:
+ name: Build Linux
+ runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+ steps:
+ - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+ - name: Build
+ run: cargo build --release
+
+ - name: Upload Linux Executable
+ uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+ with:
+ name: 'linux-${{ github.ref_name }}'
+ path: '${{ github.workspace }}/target/release/amazing-software'
+ if-no-files-found: error
+ retention-days: 1
+
+ release:
+ name: Create Release
+ runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+ needs:
+ - build_windows
+ - build_linux
+
+ steps:
+ - name: Download Executables
+ uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+ with:
+ path: '${{ github.workspace }}/artifacts'
+
+ - name: Zip Executables
+ run: |
+ pushd "${{ github.workspace }}/artifacts"
+ for dir in ./*/; do
+ dir_name=$(basename "$dir");
+ zip_file="./$dir_name.zip";
+ zip -r "$zip_file" "$dir_name";
+ done
+ popd
+
+ - name: Release
+ uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
+ with:
+ body: New release!
+ files: ${{ github.workspace }}/artifacts/*.zip