V6 causes unwanted merge commit

[WadeSeidule]

git-auto-commit Version

v6

Machine Type

Ubuntu (eg. ubuntu-latest)

Bug description

After updating from v5 -> v6 every time the action auto commits and pushes we get a merge commit followed by the new auto commit like shown in the screenshot. Pinning back to v5 fixes.

The unwanted merge commit can pull in unrelated changes to the current PR.

Steps to reproduce

For me to reproduce is using the action with version v6

Tried solutions

Solved with reverting to v5

Example Workflow

name: Pre-commit Hooks

on:
  pull_request:

permissions:
  contents: write 

jobs:
  pre-commit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          token: ${{ secrets.ORG_GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - uses: actions/setup-python@v3
        with:
          python-version: 3.9

      - name: Pre-commit first pass (formatting)
        id: pre-commit-1
        run: |-
          pre-commit run --color=always --all-files

      - name: Pre-commit second pass (linting)
        run: |-
          pre-commit run --color=always --all-files

      - name: Check for changes
      shell: bash
      run: |-
        git add .
        git diff --staged --patch --exit-code || echo "self_mutation_happened=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"

    - name: Commit mutations
      if: ${{ steps.self_mutation.outputs.self_mutation_happened == 'true' }}
      uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v6
      with:
        commit_message: automated commit
        skip_fetch: true

    - name: Fail build on mutations
      if: ${{ steps.self_mutation.outputs.self_mutation_happened == 'true' }}
      shell: bash
      run: |-
        echo "files were changed"
        exit 1

Relevant log output

Repository

No response

[stefanzweifel]

Thanks for reporting @WadeSeidule.

That you use skip_fetch: true makes me now scratch my head, where the issue could be. In v5 -> v6 we removed the git-fetch calls and a call to git checkout which wasn't really necessary.

Have to dig a bit deeper here and figure out, what the problem here could be.

---

The repo you're seeing the issue is not open-source I assume?

[WadeSeidule]

@stefanzweifel Thanks for the quick reply! You are correct, the repo is not open source. I can do my best to provide any relevant context you might need though.

[keesverweij-oakk]

I can confirm I also have this issue, reverting to v5 solved it. Unfortunately our repo also isn't open source. this is the worflow file:

name: format commits with Ruff

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      gh_app_id:
        required: true
        type: string
        description: "GitHub App ID"

jobs:
  format:
    name: Run Ruff formatting and auto-commit changes
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Generate a token
        id: generate-token
        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@v2
        with:
          app-id: ${{ inputs.gh_app_id }}
          private-key: ${{ secrets.OAKK_GITHUB_ACTION_SSH_KEY }}

      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          token: ${{ steps.generate-token.outputs.token }}

      - name: Run Ruff import sorting and auto-fix
        uses: astral-sh/ruff-action@v3
        with:
          args: "check --select I --fix"

      - name: Run Ruff linting and auto-fix
        uses: astral-sh/ruff-action@v3
        with:
          args: "check --fix"

      - name: Run Ruff formatting
        uses: astral-sh/ruff-action@v3
        with:
          args: "format"

      - name: Commit Any Changes
        uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5
        with:
          commit_message: "style: ruff formatting"
          commit_author: "oakk-github-action[bot] <187035800+oakk-github-action[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>"
          commit_user_name: "oakk-github-action[bot]"

[ferrarimarco]

Hi, here's a workflow run that shows this issue, in case it's helpful: https://github.com/ferrarimarco/home-lab/actions/runs/17178042332/job/48736679713

Thanks for working on this.

[stefanzweifel]

@ferrarimarco Thanks for the link! This definitely helps.

In your case, I can see that the repository is being checked out in a detached state (link).
Setting a proper ref-value in the checkout step might help here.

But I think I can finally see, where the root cause of all these issues since v6 are:

• In v5 we always called git fetch --depth=1
• In v5 we always called git checkout ${{ github.head_ref }}

Even though I created this action, the addition of the git-fetch-call never had any real clear and explainable benefits. (See my note in #131)
The call to git checkout ${{ github.head_ref }} was more of a knowledge problem on my side back in the day but it seems to have acidentally fixed a few issues that are caused by unintentially checking out the repo in a detached state.

I will probably revert the major changes in #375 and reintroduce the skip_fetch and skip_checkout options as well. 🤔

[lukepighetti]

we were running into an issue with v6 asking us to git pull before using the action. switching to v5 fixed it.

[rcerljenko]

@stefanzweifel same here... do you know maybe when will you release a fix?

[stefanzweifel]

@rcerljenko I finally have some free time the next 2 weeks and plan to release a fix in the coming days. (Restore the previously removed features)

[rcerljenko]

that's great man! much appreciated

[stefanzweifel]

I've created a draft PR for v7 of this action in #388.
skip_fetch, skip_checkoutandcreate_branch` have been restored with its original functionality.

There will also be a bump to Node 24, but that's not really related to this issue.

If you have the capacity, it would be great if you all could test this change by updating your workflows to use v7-next in your workflows.

-- uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5
+- uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v7-next

This change will point your workflow to the branch in the PR. Once you folks confirm to me that the changes work for you as expected, I will merge the PR, release v7 and remove the branch again.

(Sorry if this back and forth produces lots of changes on your side)