Migrating from GitLab to GitHub - GitLab CI/CD to GitHub Actions

Article Intended For

Penn State faculty, staff, and students who are currently using Penn State GitLab instance and is getting ready to migrate to Penn State's GitHub Service.

Introduction

When migrating from GitLab CI/CD to GitHub Actions, you want to ensure a smooth transition while maintaining the functionality you rely on in your pipelines. This article provides an introduction to GitHub Actions, a high-level comparison of common GitLab CI/CD features—such as variables, secrets, artifacts, caching, scheduled jobs, security scanning, and container image management—and their equivalents in GitHub Actions, and some migrations methods available.

Please note: GitHub Actions usage is free for standard GitHub-hosted runners in public repositories, and for self-hosted runners. Penn State's GitHub account offers a limited number of GitHub-hosted runner minutes per month for private repositories.  If you believe your GitHub Actions may use more than 30 minutes per month, and you do not wish to use self-hosted runners, please contact us about billing options.

Getting Started

If you are new to GitHub Actions, it may be worthwhile to learn more about them before migrating your GitLab CI/CD pipelines to GitHub Actions.  Here are some guides, tutorials, and example use cases to introduce you to GitHub Actions.

• Understanding GitHub Actions
• Quickstart for GitHub Actions
• Hands on tutorial by GitHub: Automate workflows with GitHub Actions
• Use cases and examples - Example workflows that demonstrate features of GitHub Actions

Common Features

Below is a list of features that are commonly used in GitLab CI/CD and their equivalents in GitHub Actions. If you can't find the feature you are interested in migrating, please consult GitHub Action documentation.

Variables
In GitHub Actions, these are called Environment Variables. They can be defined in workflows or at repository/organization levels.  Learn more about variables in these GitHub articles:

• Store information in variables
• Accessing contextual information about workflow runs

Secrets
GitHub Actions supports Secrets, which can be securely stored and used in workflows. Learn more about secrets in this GitHub articles:

• Using secrets in GitHub Actions
• Creating secrets for a repository

Artifacts
In GitHub Actions, Artifacts can be used to persist data between jobs or make files available after a workflow completes. Learn more about artifacts in these GitHub articles:

• Storing and sharing data from a workflow
• Blog: Getting started with v4 of GitHub Actions Artifacts

Caching
GitHub Actions provides Cache Actions to speed up workflows by caching dependencies and build outputs. Learn more about caching in these GitHub articles:

• Caching dependencies to speed up workflows
• GitHub Marketplace: Cache action

Event Triggers and Scheduled Jobs
GitHub Actions supports Event triggers, such as push, pulls, etc, and Scheduled Events using cron syntax for running workflows. Learn more about the event triggers in these GitHub articles:

• Events that trigger workflows
• Triggering a workflow

Security Scanning
GitHub offers Code Scanning and Secret Scanning through its Security features, along with integration for third-party security tools. Learn more about security scanning in these GitHub articles:

• Using GitHub's security features to secure your use of GitHub Actions
• Finding security vulnerabilities and errors in your code with code scanning
• Keeping secrets secure with secret scanning

Packaging and Pushing to a Private Docker Repository
GitHub Actions can integrate with Docker and container registries, such as GitHub Container Registry or Docker Hub.  Learn more about packaging and publishing in these GitHub articles:

• About packaging with GitHub Actions
• Publishing Docker images

Releases
In GitHub Actions, Releases can be created automatically as part of a workflow to manage and package project distributions. Learn more about packaging and publishing in these GitHub articles:

• About releases
• Action Marketplace: Create a release in a GitHub Action

Runners
GitHub Actions uses Runners to execute workflows, similar to GitLab Runners. GitHub provides both hosted and self-hosted runners. 

• Using GitHub-hosted runners
• About self-hosted runners
  • Adding a self-hosted runner to a repository
  • Adding a self-hosted runner to an organization

Please note: GitHub Actions usage is free for standard GitHub-hosted runners in public repositories, and for self-hosted runners. Penn State's GitHub account offers a limited number of GitHub-hosted runner minutes per month for private repositories.  If you believe your GitHub Actions may use more than 30 minutes per month, and you do not wish to use self-hosted runners, please contact us about billing options.

Migration Tools and Troubleshooting

GitHub provides tools to automate the migration process from GitLab CI/CD to GitHub Actions, helping you streamline the transition. They also provide guides on manual migrations, troubleshooting and best practices.  Check out these GitHub articles on these processes:

• Migrating from GitLab CI/CD to GitHub Actions
• Migrating from GitLab with GitHub Actions Importer
  • YouTube video: GitLab CI migrations powered by GitHub Actions Importer
• About troubleshooting workflows

Previous Penn State GitLab Customers noted the following nuances when migrating to the Penn State GitHub service.  We've linked to the GitHub Community discussions regarding these issues.

• GitHub Actions cross do not support timezones  
• GitHub Actions job ID are not exposed though contexts

Additional Information

Migrating from GitLab to GitHub - Getting Started

Migrating from GitLab to GitHub - Frequently Asked Questions

Signing up for Penn State's GitHub Service

Penn State GitHub Frequently Asked Questions

GitHub Glossary