How do I access the root of the GitHub Repository in a GitHub action? - pdf

Question

I am trying to build a resume pdf from a resume.tex in my resume repository file whenever a commit is made.
I am getting the following error.
Error: File '/home/runner/work/resume/resume/resume.tex' cannot be found from the directory '/github/workspace'.
How should I access the resume.tex file? If I just say root_file: resume.tex, the error is:
Error: File 'resume.tex' cannot be found from the directory '/github/workspace'.
The .github/workflows/build_resume.yml file looks like this. The resume.tex file is in the root of my repository.
# This is a basic workflow to help you get started with Actions
name: Build PDF on commit.
# Controls when the workflow will run
on:
# Triggers the workflow on push or pull request events but only for the main branch
push:
branches: [ main ]
# Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
# workflow_dispatch:
# A workflow run is made up of one or more jobs that can run sequentially or in parallel
jobs:
# This workflow contains a single job called "build"
build:
# The type of runner that the job will run on
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
# Steps represent a sequence of tasks that will be executed as part of the job
steps:
- name: Github Action for LaTeX
uses: xu-cheng/latex-action#v2
with:
# The root LaTeX file to be compiled
root_file: ${{ github.workspace }}/resume.tex
# Interpret the root_file input as bash glob pattern
# glob_root_file: # optional
# The working directory for this action
# working_directory: # optional
# The LaTeX engine to be invoked
# compiler: # optional, default is latexmk
# Extra arguments to be passed to the LaTeX engine
# args: # optional, default is -pdf -file-line-error -halt-on-error -interaction=nonstopmode
# [Deprecated] Install extra packages by tlmgr
# extra_packages: # optional
# Install extra packages by apk
# extra_system_packages: # optional
# Install extra .ttf/.otf fonts.
# extra_fonts: ./fonts/*.ttf
# Arbitrary bash codes to be executed before compiling LaTeX documents
pre_compile: tlmgr update --self && tlmgr update --all
# Arbitrary bash codes to be executed after compiling LaTeX documents
post_compile: latexmk -c
# Instruct latexmk to enable --shell-escape
# latexmk_shell_escape: # optional
# Instruct latexmk to use LuaLaTeX
# latexmk_use_lualatex: # optional
# Instruct latexmk to use XeLaTeX
latexmk_use_xelatex: true

Answer 1

When you want to execute files from the current repository, you need to use the actions/checkout first (at the beginning of your job's steps).
This will allow you to access the repository $github_workspace (one of Github environment variables) in your workflow.
Note: All commands you'll run after using the action/checkout will be executed at the repository root.
For example, considering that your resume.tex file is at the root of the repository, you would use something like this:
name: Example
on:
push:
pull_request:
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: checkout repo
uses: actions/checkout#v2.3.4
- name: show resume.tex file content
run: cat resume.tex
Here is another workflow example from a personal repository, following the same logic if you want to execute a specific script located in the repository in your workflow. to perform any operation.

Answer 2

If someone is looking to do the same, the following steps need to be done.
Go into your repository.
Compile latex document using xu-cheng/latex-action#v2
Check if PDF is generated.
Push PDF to repository.
The configuration file to do that will look like this.
name: Github Actions CI to build pdf from tex source.
on: push
jobs:
build:
if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip ci]')"
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Set up Git repository
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Compile LaTeX document
uses: xu-cheng/latex-action#v2
with:
# The root LaTeX file to be compiled
root_file: resume_aditya_wagh.tex
# Interpret the root_file input as bash glob pattern
# glob_root_file: # optional
# The working directory for this action
# working_directory: # optional
# The LaTeX engine to be invoked
# compiler: # optional, default is latexmk
# Extra arguments to be passed to the LaTeX engine
args: -pdf -file-line-error -halt-on-error -interaction=nonstopmode
# Install extra packages by apk
# extra_system_packages: # optional
# Install extra .ttf/.otf fonts.
extra_fonts: ./fonts/*.ttf
# Arbitrary bash codes to be executed before compiling LaTeX documents
pre_compile: tlmgr update --self && tlmgr update --all
# Arbitrary bash codes to be executed after compiling LaTeX documents
post_compile: latexmk -c
# Instruct latexmk to enable --shell-escape
# latexmk_shell_escape: # optional
# Instruct latexmk to use LuaLaTeX
# latexmk_use_lualatex: # optional
# Instruct latexmk to use XeLaTeX
latexmk_use_xelatex: true
- name: Check pdf file
run: |
file resume_aditya_wagh.pdf | grep -q ' PDF '
- name: Upload file to repository
run: |
git config --global user.name "adityamwagh"
git config --global user.email "adityamwagh#gmail.com"
git add resume_aditya_wagh.pdf
git commit -m "commit message"
git push
if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'