PR creation while checking out from tag

[Poornachand200]

Subject of the issue:

I am trying to create a pull request from checking out to a tag. I have supplied input base as main. Nevertheless I am facing the error fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref.

Goal:

I have the required the changes in the tag. peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6 has to create a pull request for the new changes in the existing tag to main branch from the branch "release/${{inputs.product}}-test-to-production" to be created.
How to achieve this?

Steps to reproduce

name: "Start Promotion Staging->Production"

permissions:
  contents: write
  issues: write
  pull-requests: write

on:
  workflow_call: 
    inputs:
      product:
        description: 'ping product to promote'
        required: true
        type: string
      tag:
        description: 'tag to deploy'
        required: true
        type: string

jobs:
  promote:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Promoting from test to production
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          ref: ${{ inputs.tag }}
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Copy PingDirectory
        if: inputs.product == 'pingdirectory'
        run: |
          rm -rf ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory
          cp -r nuuday-ciam/test/pingdirectory/ nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory
          find ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory/ -name '*_test.*' -type f -delete

      - name: Copy PingFederate
        if: inputs.product == 'pingfederate'
        run: |
          npm install --dev --prefix .build
          rm -rf nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate 
          cp -r nuuday-ciam/test/pingfederate nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate 
          find ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate/ -name '*.css.map*' -type f -delete
          npm run config:production --prefix .build

      - name: Git status
        run: git status

      - name: Commit and push files to the tag
        run: |
          git config --local user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git add -A
          git commit -a -m "Add changes"
          git tag -d ${{ inputs.tag }}
          git tag ${{ inputs.tag }}
          git push origin :${{ inputs.tag }}
          git push origin ${{ inputs.tag }}
          

      - name: Create Pull Request
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.REPOSITORY_ROBOT_PAT }}
          branch: "release/${{inputs.product}}-test-to-production"
          commit-message: "chore(release): promoting ${{inputs.product}} from test to production"
          title: "chore(release): promoting ${{inputs.product}} from test to production"
          base: main
          assignees: ${{ github.actor }}
          labels: "automated promotion"
          body: |
            THIS IS AN AUTOMATED PROMOTION FROM THE TEST ENVIRONMENT TO PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT.

            PLEASE REVIEW THE FILE CHANGES IN THIS PR AND MERGE IT WHEN YOU ARE READY.

            WHEN THIS PR IS MERGED, THE CHANGES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DEPLOYED TO PRODUCTION.

Log

_usr/bin/git symbolic-ref HEAD --short
 fatal: ref HEAD is not a symbolic ref
 /usr/bin/git rev-parse HEAD
 498fcbf8de6fe8927789fb9298d841d9a0128761
 Working base is commit '498fcbf8de6fe8927789fb9298d841d9a0128761'
 /usr/bin/git checkout --progress -B 8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6 HEAD --
 Switched to a new branch '8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6'
 /usr/bin/git status --porcelain -unormal --
 /usr/bin/git diff --quiet --
 /usr/bin/git diff --quiet --staged --
 /usr/bin/git stash push --include-untracked
 No local changes to save
 Rebasing commits made to commit '498fcbf8de6fe8927789fb9298d841d9a0128761' on to base branch 'main'
 /usr/bin/git -c protocol.version=2 fetch --no-tags --progress --no-recurse-submodules --force --depth=1 origin main:main
 remote: Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0        
 From https://github.com/nuuday/ciam-server-profiles
  * [new branch]        main       -> main
 /usr/bin/git checkout --progress main --
 Switched to branch 'main'
 /usr/bin/git rev-list --reverse 498fcbf8de6fe8927789fb9298d841d9a0128761..8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6 .
 /usr/bin/git checkout --progress -B 8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6 HEAD --
 Switched to and reset branch '8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6'
 /usr/bin/git -c protocol.version=2 fetch --no-tags --progress --no-recurse-submodules --force --depth=1 origin main:main
 remote: Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0        
 /usr/bin/git -c protocol.version=2 fetch --no-tags --progress --no-recurse-submodules --force origin release/pingfederate-test-to-production:refs/remotes/origin/release/pingfederate-test-to-production
 fatal: couldn't find remote ref release/pingfederate-test-to-production
 Pull request branch 'release/pingfederate-test-to-production' does not exist yet.
 /usr/bin/git checkout --progress -B release/pingfederate-test-to-production 8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6 --
 Switched to a new branch 'release/pingfederate-test-to-production'
 /usr/bin/git rev-list --right-only --count main...release/pingfederate-test-to-production
 0
 Branch 'release/pingfederate-test-to-production' is not ahead of base 'main' and will not be created
 /usr/bin/git rev-parse HEAD
 dc00c[55](https://github.com/nuuday/ciam-server-profiles/actions/runs/8260672625/job/22596580532#step:7:61)82c5fe5b474d5b8bebba1a15eaa8bf5aa
 /usr/bin/git branch --delete --force 8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6
 Deleted branch 8f322fbc-0a73-4359-85c3-4ab3bf1b2bd6 (was dc00c5[58](https://github.com/nuuday/ciam-server-profiles/actions/runs/8260672625/job/22596580532#step:7:64)).
 /usr/bin/git checkout --progress 498fcbf8de6fe8927789fb9298d841d9a01287[61](https://github.com/nuuday/ciam-server-profiles/actions/runs/8260672625/job/22596580532#step:7:67) --
 Note: switching to '498fcbf8de6fe8927789fb9298d841d9a0128[76](https://github.com/nuuday/ciam-server-profiles/actions/runs/8260672625/job/22596580532#step:7:82)1'.
 
 You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
 changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this
 state without impacting any branches by switching back to a branch.
 
 If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may
 do so (now or later) by using -c with the switch command. Example:
 
   git switch -c <new-branch-name>
 
 Or undo this operation with:
 
   git switch -
 
 Turn off this advice by setting config variable advice.detachedHead to false_

[peter-evans]

Hi @Poornachand200

The reason this isn't working is not the message you see in the logs about detached HEAD, it's this line here:
Branch 'release/pingfederate-test-to-production' is not ahead of base 'main' and will not be created

Please follow this example:
https://github.com/peter-evans/create-pull-request/blob/main/docs/examples.md#keep-a-branch-up-to-date-with-another

My understanding is that you want to update main from the specified tag. So your solution should look something like this:

jobs:
  productionPromotion:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          ref: main
      - name: Reset main branch to match the specified tag
        run: |
          git fetch origin ${{ inputs.tag }}:${{ inputs.tag }}
          git reset --hard ${{ inputs.tag }}
      - name: Create Pull Request
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
        with:
          branch: "release/${{inputs.product}}-test-to-production"

I've never tried to use this method with a tag before, so it will be interesting to hear if it works ok.

[Poornachand200]

I tried updating the workflow like this. Attached the screen shot of the pull request and the extracted logs.

The below screen shot in create pull request steps shows only file is modified and will be added. But the created PR has the file which is copied in copy step in below. I need to ignore the file in test folder after copy step. The PR shouldn't have the test folder changes.

      - name: Copy PingDirectory
        if: inputs.product == 'pingdirectory'
        run: |
          rm -rf ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory
          cp -r nuuday-ciam/test/pingdirectory/ nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory
          find ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory/ -name '*_test.*' -type f -delete

      - name: Copy PingFederate
        if: inputs.product == 'pingfederate'
        run: |
          npm install --dev --prefix .build
          rm -rf nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate
          cp -r nuuday-ciam/test/pingfederate nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate
          find ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate/ -name '*.css.map*' -type f -delete
          npm run config:production --prefix .build

logs_21761108848.zip

name: "Start Promotion Staging->Production"

permissions:
  contents: write
  issues: write
  pull-requests: write

on:
  workflow_call: 
    inputs:
      product:
        description: 'ping product to promote'
        required: true
        type: string
      tag:
        description: 'tag to deploy'
        required: true
        type: string

jobs:
  promote:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Promoting from test to production
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          ref: main

      #- uses: actions/checkout@v4
      #  with:
      #    ref: ${{ inputs.tag }}
      #    fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Reset main branch to match the specified tag
        run: |
          git fetch origin ${{ inputs.tag }}:${{ inputs.tag }}
          git reset --hard ${{ inputs.tag }}

      - name: Git status
        run: git status

      - name: Copy PingDirectory
        if: inputs.product == 'pingdirectory'
        run: |
          rm -rf ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory
          cp -r nuuday-ciam/test/pingdirectory/ nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory
          find ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingdirectory/ -name '*_test.*' -type f -delete

      - name: Copy PingFederate
        if: inputs.product == 'pingfederate'
        run: |
          npm install --dev --prefix .build
          rm -rf nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate
          cp -r nuuday-ciam/test/pingfederate nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate
          find ./nuuday-ciam/production/pingfederate/ -name '*.css.map*' -type f -delete
          npm run config:production --prefix .build

      - name: Git status
        run: git status

      #- name: Commit and push files to the tag
      #  run: |
      #    git config --local user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
      #    git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
      #    git add -A
      #    git commit -a -m "Add changes"
      #    git tag -d ${{ inputs.tag }}
      #    git tag ${{ inputs.tag }}
      #    git push origin :${{ inputs.tag }}
      #    git push origin ${{ inputs.tag }}
          

      - name: Create Pull Request
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.REPOSITORY_ROBOT_PAT }}
          branch: "release/${{inputs.product}}-test-to-production"
          commit-message: "chore(release): promoting ${{inputs.product}} from test to production"
          title: "chore(release): promoting ${{inputs.product}} from test to production"
          assignees: ${{ github.actor }}
          base: main
          labels: "automated promotion"
          body: |
            THIS IS AN AUTOMATED PROMOTION FROM THE TEST ENVIRONMENT TO PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT.

            PLEASE REVIEW THE FILE CHANGES IN THIS PR AND MERGE IT WHEN YOU ARE READY.

            WHEN THIS PR IS MERGED, THE CHANGES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DEPLOYED TO PRODUCTION.

[Poornachand200]

add-paths doesn't seem to work as expected. It also add nuuday-ciam/test which doesn't match.

      - name: Create Pull Request
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.REPOSITORY_ROBOT_PAT }}
          branch: "release/${{inputs.product}}-test-to-production"
          commit-message: "chore(release): promoting ${{inputs.product}} from test to production"
          title: "chore(release): promoting ${{inputs.product}} from test to production"
          assignees: ${{ github.actor }}
          base: main
          labels: "automated promotion"
          add-paths: nuuday-ciam/production/
          body: |
            THIS IS AN AUTOMATED PROMOTION FROM THE TEST ENVIRONMENT TO PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT.

            PLEASE REVIEW THE FILE CHANGES IN THIS PR AND MERGE IT WHEN YOU ARE READY.

            WHEN THIS PR IS MERGED, THE CHANGES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DEPLOYED TO PRODUCTION.