Github actions not including variable

Question

I have a github actions workflow like this:

name: Print test type
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        test_type: ['test-alpha', 'test-beta']
        os: [ubuntu-latest]
        python-version: ['3.7', '3.9']
        include:
        - os: windows-latest
          python-version: '3.8'
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
    - name: Print Alpha
      if: ${{ matrix.test_type == 'test-alpha'}}
      run: echo "test type is alpha. the os name is ${{ runner.os }}"
    - name: Print Beta
      if: ${{ matrix.test_type == 'test-beta'}}
      run: echo "test type is beta. the os name is ${{ runner.os }}"

When I run this workflow, the windows CI starts and completes but it is not showing any output. In particular, the if statements are not getting executed. Am I missing some point here? Because when I include the test-type in matrix, I expect to also see windows X py3.8 X {alpha, beta} combination in workflow.

In the ubuntu CI, it works fine - getting executed for all combinations in the matrix (ubuntu X {py3.7,py3.9} X {alpha,beta}.)

Answer 1

The include method does not work here because Github tries to extend the already existing run configurations. If this does not work (which is the case here), then a new configuration is created for each include. (For more information: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-jobs/using-a-matrix-for-your-jobs#expanding-or-adding-matrix-configurations)

In your case, however, the new created configurations do not contain a specified test-type. Now there are two possibilities. Either add the test-type manually:

name: Print test type
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        test_type: ['test-alpha', 'test-beta']
        os: [ubuntu-latest]
        python-version: ['3.7', '3.9']
        include:
        - os: windows-latest
          python-version: '3.8'
          test_type: 'test-alpha'
        - os: windows-latest
          python-version: '3.8'
          test_type: 'test-beta'
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
    - name: Print Alpha
      if: ${{ matrix.test_type == 'test-alpha'}}
      run: echo "test type is alpha. the os name is ${{ runner.os }}"
    - name: Print Beta
      if: ${{ matrix.test_type == 'test-beta'}}
      run: echo "test type is beta. the os name is ${{ runner.os }}"

or remove the unwanted combinations:

name: Print test type
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        test_type: ['test-alpha', 'test-beta']
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
        python-version: ['3.7', '3.8', '3.9']
        exclude:
        - os: windows-latest
          python-version: '3.7'
        - os: windows-latest
          python-version: '3.9'
        - os: ubuntu-latest
          python-version: '3.8'
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
    - name: Print Alpha
      if: ${{ matrix.test_type == 'test-alpha'}}
      run: echo "test type is alpha. the os name is ${{ runner.os }}"
    - name: Print Beta
      if: ${{ matrix.test_type == 'test-beta'}}
      run: echo "test type is beta. the os name is ${{ runner.os }}"