GH Actions: tweak the way the PHPCS versions are set

As things were, whenever the minimum PHPCS version would be changed, the branch protection settings for both the `master` and the `develop` branch would need to be updated and all "required builds" referencing the old PHPCS version would need to be removed, while new "required builds" would need to be added referencing the new minimum PHPCS version.

This was a fiddly process and time-consuming.

The change proposed in this commit takes advantage of the Composer `--prefer-lowest` setting to archive the same without a hard-coded PHPCS version in the build name, which means that once the branch protection settings have been updated for this PR, they shouldn't need updating anymore for future PHPCS version bumps.

.github/workflows/basic-qa.yml

@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         php: [ 'latest' ]
-        phpcs_version: [ '3.7.1', 'dev-master' ]
+        phpcs_version: [ 'lowest', 'dev-master' ]
 
     name: "Ruleset test: PHP ${{ matrix.php }} on PHPCS ${{ matrix.phpcs_version }}"
 
@@ -114,7 +114,8 @@ jobs:
           ini-values: error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED
           coverage: none
 
-      - name: Set PHPCS version
+      - name: "Set PHPCS version (master)"
+        if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'dev-master' }}
         run: composer require squizlabs/php_codesniffer:"${{ matrix.phpcs_version }}" --no-update --no-scripts --no-interaction
 
       - name: Install Composer dependencies
@@ -124,6 +125,10 @@ jobs:
           # Bust the cache at least once a month - output format: YYYY-MM.
           custom-cache-suffix: $(date -u "+%Y-%m")
 
+      - name: "Set PHPCS version (lowest)"
+        if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'lowest' }}
+        run: composer update squizlabs/php_codesniffer --prefer-lowest --ignore-platform-req=php+ --no-scripts --no-interaction
+
       - name: Test the WordPress-Core ruleset
         run: $(pwd)/vendor/bin/phpcs -ps ./Tests/RulesetCheck/class-ruleset-test.inc --standard=WordPress-Core
 

.github/workflows/quicktest.yml

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         php: [ '5.4', 'latest' ]
-        phpcs_version: [ '3.7.1', 'dev-master' ]
+        phpcs_version: [ 'lowest', 'dev-master' ]
 
     name: QTest - PHP ${{ matrix.php }} on PHPCS ${{ matrix.phpcs_version }}
 
@@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ jobs:
           ini-values: ${{ steps.set_ini.outputs.PHP_INI }}
           coverage: none
 
-      - name: Set PHPCS version
+      - name: "Set PHPCS version (master)"
+        if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'dev-master' }}
         run: composer require squizlabs/php_codesniffer:"${{ matrix.phpcs_version }}" --no-update --no-scripts --no-interaction
 
       - name: Install Composer dependencies (PHP < 8.0 )
@@ -67,6 +68,10 @@ jobs:
           composer-options: --ignore-platform-req=php+
           custom-cache-suffix: $(date -u "+%Y-%m")
 
+      - name: "Set PHPCS version (lowest)"
+        if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'lowest' }}
+        run: composer update squizlabs/php_codesniffer --prefer-lowest --ignore-platform-req=php+ --no-scripts --no-interaction
+
       - name: Lint PHP files against parse errors
         if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'dev-master' }}
         run: composer lint -- --checkstyle

.github/workflows/unit-tests.yml

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         php: [ '5.4', '5.5', '5.6', '7.0', '7.1', '7.2', '7.3', '7.4', '8.0', '8.1', '8.2', '8.3' ]
-        phpcs_version: [ '3.7.1', 'dev-master' ]
+        phpcs_version: [ 'lowest', 'dev-master' ]
         extensions: [ '' ]
 
         include:
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ jobs:
           coverage: none
           tools: cs2pr
 
-      - name: Set PHPCS version
+      - name: "Set PHPCS version (master)"
+        if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'dev-master' }}
         run: composer require squizlabs/php_codesniffer:"${{ matrix.phpcs_version }}" --no-update --no-scripts --no-interaction
 
       - name: Install Composer dependencies (PHP < 8.0 )
@@ -78,6 +79,10 @@ jobs:
           composer-options: --ignore-platform-req=php+
           custom-cache-suffix: $(date -u "+%Y-%m")
 
+      - name: "Set PHPCS version (lowest)"
+        if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'lowest' }}
+        run: composer update squizlabs/php_codesniffer --prefer-lowest --ignore-platform-req=php+ --no-scripts --no-interaction
+
       - name: Lint PHP files against parse errors
         if: ${{ matrix.phpcs_version == 'dev-master' }}
         run: composer lint -- --checkstyle | cs2pr