FIREBREAK: Investigate Automatic Conversion from CircleCI -> GitHub Actions

[PepperMoJ]

Background

We are currently using a large amount of credits across our CircleCI projects. This ticket is to investigate

Questions / Assumptions

• Can we directly translate CircleCI workflow to GitHub action workflows?
• How many of the projects on CircleCI are required to be private?
• What are the cost implications of moving to GitHub Actions (cost/effort)?
• Users may be reluctant to move.
• Why are we using CircleCI in the first place?

Tasklist

• [x] Identify the most computationally intensive CircleCI projects
• [ ] Contact project owners to understand reasons for using CircleCI
• [x] Create an example GitHub Action converted from a CircleCI pipeline
• [x] Investigate ways to automate the conversion

What hypothesis do we want to test?/What do we want to learn?

Can we automate the conversion of CircleCI workflows to GitHub Actions?

Definition of done

• [ ] Firebreak finding documented appropriately
• [ ] Demo completed
• [ ] Decision made on whether to progress Firebreak work
• [ ] Does next steps require User Research?
• [ ] Firebreak next step Issues created
• [ ] New Issues referenced in this story before closure

[PepperMoJ]

The GitHub Actions Importer seems to be the most promising way of analysing, forecasting and automating the conversion of our CircleCI pipelines.

[PepperMoJ]

A report from the GitHub Actions Importer tool with an audit of our migration potential:

Audit summary

Summary for CircleCI instance

• GitHub Actions Importer version: 1.3.22081 (ff41350a9d6afd71f38535f23e39fff593ed049c)
• Performed at: 7/23/24 at 12:31

Pipelines

Total: 505

• Successful: 69 (13%)
• Partially successful: 340 (67%)
• Unsupported: 92 (18%)
• Failed: 4 (0%)

Job types

Supported: 412 (81%)

• 2.1: 410
• 2: 2

Unsupported: 93 (18%)

• YAML: 92
• 2.1: 1

Build steps

Total: 18938

Known: 15308 (80%)

Unknown: 3154 (16%)

Unsupported: 476 (2%)

• setup_remote_docker: 476

Actions: 17497

Triggers

Total: 1934

Known: 1446 (74%)

• parameters: 768
• cron: 488
• push: 190

Unsupported: 488 (25%)

• filters: 488

Actions: 1446

• workflow_dispatch: 768
• schedule: 488
• push: 190

Environment

Total: 0

Actions: 10675

Other

Total: 328

Known: 315 (96%)

• working_directory: 251
• docker: 64

Unsupported: 13 (3%)

• shell: 13

Actions: 30373

Manual tasks

Total: 1230

Secrets: 1230

• ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}: 199
• ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}: 199
• ${{ secrets.CIRCLE_CI_SSH_KEY }}: 140
• ${{ secrets.CIRCLE_CI_KNOWN_HOSTS }}: 140
• ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_ENG }}: 105
• ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_ENG }}: 105
• ${{ secrets.AWS_KEY_ID }}: 167
• ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_KEY }}: 167
• ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_PREPROD }}: 3
• ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_PREPROD }}: 3
• ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_PROD }}: 1
• ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_PROD }}: 1

[PepperMoJ]

Here's the output for the moj-analytical-services organisation on CircleCI:

Audit summary

Summary for CircleCI instance

• GitHub Actions Importer version: 1.3.22081 (ff41350a9d6afd71f38535f23e39fff593ed049c)
• Performed at: 7/24/24 at 10:03

Pipelines

Total: 68

• Successful: 1 (1%)
• Partially successful: 0 (0%)
• Unsupported: 67 (98%)
• Failed: 0 (0%)

Job types

Supported: 1 (1%)

• 2: 1

Unsupported: 67 (98%)

• YAML: 67

Build steps

Total: 4

Known: 4 (100%)

• run: 3
• checkout: 1

Actions: 4

• run: 3
• actions/checkout@v4.1.0: 1

Triggers

Total: 1

Known: 1 (100%)

• push: 1

Actions: 1

• push: 1

Environment

Total: 0

Other

Total: 1

Known: 1 (100%)

• working_directory: 1

Actions: 1

• run: 1

[PepperMoJ]

Most computationally intensive projects can be seen on the usage overview.

[PepperMoJ]

Finished report can be found here.