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Github Actions Tricks

Compiling a Latex PDF with GitHub Actions

This tutorial explains how to have a latex document automatically compile and be available whenever the master .tex

Setup:

  1. Create and come your your repository, and clone it in vscode or your favorite editor
  2. Add in your latex file. For example, docs/rough_notes.tex resides in the path docs relative to the root of the repository. You can change that if you wish.
  • Make sure you are not checking in the .pdf or intermediate compilation files by adding docs/rough_notes.pdf etc. to the .gitignore.
  1. Create an orphan branch for the repository to hold the binaries. The easiest way is in the terminal in vscode with the repo opened.
git checkout --orphan gh_actions_builds
git rm -rf . 
echo "# Compiled Documents" > README.md
git add README.md
git commit -a -m "Initial Commit"
git push origin gh_actions_builds
  • In vscode, switch to the main branch instead.
  1. If you want to protect that branch from accidental removal, go to the github page for the repo, go to Settings/Branches and then add a rule for gh_actions_builds. No need to change any settings.
  2. On the github site for your repo, click on "Actions"
  3. Click "setup a workflow yourself"
  4. Copy the following code into it, globally replacing rough_notes with your own latex filename, and docs with the relative path if necessary.
name: latex rough_notes

on:
  # Triggers the workflow on push or pull request events but only for the main branch
  push:
    branches:
    - main
    paths:
    - 'docs/rough_notes.tex'

  # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  latex-job:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      
      - name: download paper repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: build pdf 
        uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v2
        with:
          root_file: rough_notes.tex
          working_directory: docs 
      - name: stash pdf
        run: |
          mv docs/rough_notes.pdf $HOME # cache the file
      - name: checkout gh_actions_builds branch
        uses: actions/checkout@v1
        with:
          ref: gh_actions_builds
      - name: commit pdf
        run: |
          git config --local user.email "[email protected]"
          git config --local user.name "GitHub Action"
          mv $HOME/rough_notes.pdf $(pwd) # bring it back 
          git add rough_notes.pdf
          git commit -m "Add changes"
      - name:  push pdf
        uses: ad-m/[email protected]
        with: 
          branch: gh_actions_builds 
          force: false
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
  1. Choose the "Commit", which should add the workflow into your repository
  2. After this, make a modification to the rough_notes.tex file, push it to the server, and it should trigger the action. The behavior in PRs is a little different
  3. In addition, you can go to the Actions tab on the webpage, choose the action, and click Run workflow
  4. Add a link to the document in the README.md of the repo if you wish, with text like
  [Rough Notes](https://github.com/MYUSERNAME/MYREPOSITORY/blob/gh_actions_builds/rough_notes.pdf)