What version of node is used in Actions to run gh-scripts?

[ahmadnassri]

The documentation does not detail what version of node is used to execute, and whether actions/setup-node would of any use / relevance?

[jclem]

Hi @ahmadnassri, good question! Unless actions/setup-node is explicitly used, for our hosted runners, the version of Node.js will be whatever is installed in the virtual environment you're using (for example ubuntu-latest). This is documented in "Software installed on GitHub-hosted runners". For example, the current ubuntu-latest, which is 18.04, uses Node.js 12.18.3.

If you're using self-hosted runners, the installed version of Node.js may differ.

[ahmadnassri]

interesting... setup-node with 14 didn't seem to have the desired effect in my testing. (was using Null Coalescing Operator in my script) but ... I've moved to a separate full action now so I can't revisit easily ...

regardless, this would be useful to document in the readme.

thanks

[jclem]

@ahmadnassri Can you point me to the workflow file, if it's public?

[ahmadnassri]

it isn't public unfortunately

[ahmadnassri]

I'll keep this issue in my tabs and might come back to it later and make another test on a public repo to share

[ylemkimon]

AFAIK, the runner runs JS action with Node.js 12 regardless of actions/setup-node:

github-script/action.yml

Line 30 in fc4d627

using: node12

[kf6kjg]

The current ubuntu-latest runner is Ubuntu 20.04.2 which, according to the docs is provided with Node 14.16.1.

I set up a job with the following statements:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v2.1.5
        with:
          node-version: 14

      - run: |
          console.debug({nodeVersion: process.version});
        shell: node --input-type=module {0}

      - uses: actions/github-script@v4.0.2
        with:
          script: |
            console.debug({nodeVersion: process.version});

And got the following as results from the console logs:

{ nodeVersion: 'v14.16.1' }

{ nodeVersion: 'v12.13.1' }

So I'd say that this action is overriding the version supplied by both the environment AND actions/setup-node. This is very annoying as it means that code I compiled from TS to JS for ES2020 will not execute due to the usage of the nullish coalescing operator and other features introduced in 14.

Please revisit this.

[kf6kjg]

Looks like node14 isn't yet available to JavaScript actions: actions/runner#772 Though it looks like there's been some recent motion on that front.

To workaround that would require being able to execute the provided script using the system node outside of the current node process.

[luisrudge]

runners already support node v16, but this action uses node@12 anyway. is there a way to force it to use v16?

[joshmgross]

runners already support node v16, but this action uses node@12 anyway. is there a way to force it to use v16?

👋 @luisrudge with #235 and actions/github@v6, this action is now using Node 16.

[luisrudge]

@joshmgross great! is v6 already available?

[joshmgross]

is v6 already available?

Yep! https://github.com/actions/github-script/releases