env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE not defined at job.env context, Does it make sense?

[kuisathaverat]

I was trying to define an environment variable global to a job using env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE as a component, but I found that env is not available at job.env context which is a little weird to me. The error is the following:

Unrecognized named-value: 'env'. Located at position 1 within expression: env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE

My workflow looks like this, I define an environment at job.env to use it across several steps in the job

  process:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        filename: 
          - file01
          - file02
    env:
     CONFIG_FILE: "${{ env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE }}/${{ matrix.filename }}"
    steps:
      - run: cat ${CONFIG_FILE}
      - run: mv ${CONFIG_FILE} foo
      - run: rm foo

The alternative is to define the environment variable on each step that uses it, this is verbose if you have a bunch of steps that use that environment variable.

  process:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        filename: 
          - file01
          - file02
    steps:
      - run: cat ${CONFIG_FILE}
         env:
           CONFIG_FILE: "${{ env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE }}/${{ matrix.filename }}"
      - run: mv ${CONFIG_FILE} foo
         env:
           CONFIG_FILE: "${{ env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE }}/${{ matrix.filename }}"
      - run: rm foo

So to avoid repeating the definition of the environment variable on each step (that does not make any sense), I have added a step that adds the environment variable to GITHUB_ENV. It is a workaround IMHO, a little forced. It is clear to define that environment variable in the job.env context, it is more clear when you read the YAML file.

  process:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        filename: 
          - file01
          - file02
    steps:
      - run: echo "CONFIG_FILE=${{ env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE }}/${{ matrix.filename }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - run: cat ${CONFIG_FILE}
      - run: mv ${CONFIG_FILE} foo
      - run: rm foo

[ChristopherHX]

Consider replacing env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE with github.workspace, then you are no longer using the not allowed context.

See docs https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/contexts#github-context.

GITHUB_WORKSPACE is automatically created from the github context, but only for steps and I think you can never access it from the env context.

[kuisathaverat]

I did not see it 🤦‍♂️

  process:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        filename: 
          - file01
          - file02
    env:
     CONFIG_FILE: "${{ github.workspace }}/${{ matrix.filename }}"
    steps:
      - run: cat ${CONFIG_FILE}
      - run: mv ${CONFIG_FILE} foo
      - run: rm foo