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Add floating tag for downstream references to reusable workflows and composite actions #626

@bschwedler

Description

@bschwedler

Downstream repos reference images-shared's reusable workflows and composite actions using @main:

# Reusable workflow (job-level)
uses: posit-dev/images-shared/.github/workflows/bakery-build-pr.yml@main

# Composite action (step-level)
uses: posit-dev/images-shared/setup-bakery@main

@main is mutable — downstream repos always track HEAD, including breaking changes, and have no way to pin to a stable ref without tracking a full SHA. GitHub's "Require actions to be pinned to a full-length commit SHA" setting blocks step-level @main references, so downstream repos cannot enable that setting while referencing images-shared composite actions this way.

What's needed:

  • A tag strategy (@v1, @latest, or similar)
  • A workflow or manual process to advance the tag on releases
  • Updated downstream documentation on which ref to use

This would also make it straightforward for downstream repos to enable SHA pinning on step-level composite action refs by pinning the tag's SHA once and letting Dependabot maintain it.

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