Table of Contents
This repository contains the source code used to create the VM images for GitHub-hosted runners used for Actions, as well as for Microsoft-hosted agents used for Azure Pipelines. To build a VM machine from this repo's source, see the instructions.
Image | YAML Label | Included Software | Rollout Status of Latest Image Release |
---|---|---|---|
Ubuntu 22.04 | ubuntu-latest or ubuntu-22.04 |
ubuntu-22.04 | |
Ubuntu 20.04 | ubuntu-20.04 |
ubuntu-20.04 | |
macOS 14 | macos-latest-large or macos-14-large |
macOS-14 | |
macOS 14 Arm64 | macos-latest , macos-14 , macos-latest-xlarge or macos-14-xlarge |
macOS-14-arm64 | |
macOS 13 | macos-13 or macos-13-large |
macOS-13 | |
macOS 13 Arm64 | macos-13-xlarge |
macOS-13-arm64 | |
macOS 12 | macos-12 or macos-12-large |
macOS-12 | |
macOS 11 [deprecated] | macos-11 |
macOS-11 | |
Windows Server 2022 | windows-latest or windows-2022 |
windows-2022 | |
Windows Server 2019 | windows-2019 |
windows-2019 |
-latest
label is used for the latest OS image version that is GA-latest
label to a new OS version we will announce the change and give sufficient lead time for users to update their workflowsSee notable upcoming changes by viewing issues with the Announcement label.
The purpose of a Beta is to collect feedback on an image before it is released to GA. The goal of a Beta is to identify and fix any potential issues that exist on that image. Images are updated on a weekly cadence. Any workflows that run on a beta image do not fall under the customer SLA in place for Actions. Customers choosing to use Beta images are encouraged to provide feedback in the runner-images repo by creating an issue. A Beta may take on different availability, i.e. public vs private.
A GA (General Availability) image has been through a Beta period and is deemed ready for general use. Images are updated on a weekly cadence. In order to be moved to GA the image must meet the following criteria:
This image type falls under the customer SLA for actions. GA images are eventually deprecated according to our guidelines as we only support the latest 2 versions of an OS.
GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps use the -latest
YAML label (ex: ubuntu-latest
, windows-latest
, and macos-latest
). These labels point towards the newest stable OS version available.
The -latest
migration process is gradual and happens over 1-2 months in order to allow customers to adapt their workflows to the newest OS version. During this process, any workflow using the -latest
label, may see changes in the OS version in their workflows or pipelines. To avoid unwanted migration, users can specify a specific OS version in the yaml file (ex: macos-12, windows-2022, ubuntu-22.04).
How to best follow along with changes
Upcoming changes: A pre-release is created when the deployment of an image has started. As soon as the deployment is finished, the pre-release is converted to a release. If you have subscribed to releases, you will get notified of pre-releases as well.
Cadence
Tools and versions will typically be removed 6 months after they are deprecated or have reached end-of-life
We support (at maximum) 2 GA images and 1 beta image at a time. We begin the deprecation process of the oldest image label once the newest OS image label has been released to GA.
The images generally contain the latest versions of packages installed except for Ubuntu LTS where we mostly rely on the Canonical-provided repositories.
Popular tools can have several versions installed side-by-side with the following strategy:
Tool name | Installation strategy |
---|---|
Docker images | not more than 3 latest LTS OS\tool versions. New images or new versions of current images are added using the standard tool request process |
Java | all LTS versions |
Node.js | 3 latest LTS versions |
Go | 3 latest minor versions |
Python Ruby |
5 most popular major.minor versions |
PyPy | 3 most popular major.minor versions |
.NET Core | 2 latest LTS versions and 1 latest version. For each feature version only latest patch is installed |
GCC GNU Fortran Clang GNU C++ |
3 latest major versions |
Android NDK | 1 latest non-LTS, 2 latest LTS versions |
Xcode | - all OS compatible versions side-by-side - for beta, GM versions - latest beta only - old patch versions are deprecated in 3 months |
We use third-party package managers to install software during the image generation process. The table below lists the package managers and the software installed.
Note: third-party repositories are re-evaluated every year to identify if they are still useful and secure.
Operating system | Package manager | Third-party repos and packages |
---|---|---|
Ubuntu | APT | containers (Ubuntu 20 only) docker (Ubuntu20 0nly) Eclipse-Temurin (Adoptium) Erlang Firefox git-lfs git Google Cloud CLI Heroku HHvm MongoDB Mono MS Edge PostgreSQL R |
pipx | ansible-core yamllint |
|
Windows | Chocolatey | No third-party repos installed |
macOS | Homebrew | aws-cli v2 azure/bicep mongodb/brew |
pipx | yamllint |
In general, these are the guidelines we follow when deciding what to pre-install on our images: