Merge Upstream

Merge changes from an upstream repository branch into a current repository branch. For example, updating changes from the repository that was forked from.

Current limitations:

• only merge only selected branch
• only work with public upstream Github repository
• merge fast forward only (--ff-only)

To merge multiple branches, create multiple jobs.

To run action for another repository, create a personal access token (PAT)

      - name: Merge Upstream
        uses: exions/merge-upstream@v1
        with:
          upstream: ${{ github.event.inputs.upstream }}
          upstream-branch: ${{ github.event.inputs.upstream-branch }}
          branch: ${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}
          token: ${{ secrets.TOKEN }}

Usage

Set up for scheduled trigger

name: Scheduled Merge Remote Action
on: 
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 * * 1'
    # scheduled for 00:00 every Monday

jobs:
  merge-upstream:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: 
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: upstream             # set the branch to merge to
          fetch-depth: 0 
      - name: Merge Upstream
        uses: exions/merge-upstream@v1
        with:
          upstream: owner/repo      # set the upstream repo
          upstream-branch: master   # set the upstream branch to merge from
          branch: upstream          # set the branch to merge to

  # set up another job to merge another branch
  merge-upstream-another-branch:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: 
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: another-branch       # set the branch to merge to
          fetch-depth: 0 
      - name: Merge Upstream
        uses: exions/merge-upstream@v1
        with:
          upstream: owner/repo              # set the upstream repo
          upstream-branch: another-branch   # set the upstream branch to merge from
          branch: another-branch            # set the branch to merge to

Reference:

• Triggering a workflow with events
• Creating a composite run steps action

How to run this action manually

This action can trigger manually as needed.

1. Go to Actions at the top of your Github repository
2. Click on Manual Merge Upstream Action (or other name you have given) under All workflows
3. You will see Run workflow, click on it
4. Fill in the upstream repository and branch to merge from, and the branch to merge to (⚠️ double check all are correct)
5. Click Run workflow
6. Check your branch commit history

Set up for manual trigger

copy and commit this to .github/workflows/merge-upstream.yml in your default branch of your repository.

name: Manual Merge Remote Action
on: 
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      upstream:
        description: 'Upstream repository owner/name. Eg. exions/merge-upstream'
        required: true
        default: 'owner/name'       # set the upstream repo
      upstream:
        description: 'Upstream branch to merge from. Eg. master'
        required: true
        default: 'master'           # set the upstream branch to merge from
      branch:
        description: 'Branch to merge to'
        required: true
        default: 'upstream'         # set the branch to merge to

jobs:
  merge-upstream:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps: 
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: ${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}
          fetch-depth: 0 
      - name: Merge Upstream
        uses: exions/merge-upstream@v1
        with:
          upstream: ${{ github.event.inputs.upstream }}
          upstream-branch: ${{ github.event.inputs.upstream-branch }}
          branch: ${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}
          token: ${{ secrets.TOKEN }}