GitHub Actions

The apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action GitHub Action provides a first-class integration for using apt-bundle in GitHub workflows. It handles downloading and installing apt-bundle automatically, and includes built-in package caching to speed up repeated runs.

Quick Start

Add a step to your workflow:

- uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1

This reads Aptfile from the repository root, installs packages, and caches the downloaded .deb files for future runs.

Full Example

name: CI

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Install system dependencies
        uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1

      - name: Run tests
        run: make test

Inputs

Input	Default	Description
`file`	`Aptfile`	Path to the Aptfile
`mode`	`install`	`install`, `install-no-update`, or `check`
`version`	`latest`	apt-bundle version to install
`cache`	`true`	Cache downloaded `.deb` packages
`cache-key-prefix`	`apt-bundle`	Prefix for the cache key

Outputs

Output	Description
`cache-hit`	`true` if packages were restored from cache

Caching

Caching is enabled by default. The cache key is derived from a SHA256 hash of Aptfile.lock (if present) or Aptfile. The cache is automatically invalidated whenever dependencies change.

To disable caching:

- uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1
  with:
    cache: false

Reproducible Builds with Aptfile.lock

If your repository includes an Aptfile.lock, the action uses it as the cache key and installs the exact package versions recorded in the lockfile, ensuring reproducible builds across runs and machines.

- uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1
# Automatically uses Aptfile.lock if present

See the Aptfile Format page for how to generate a lockfile.

Validating Dependencies in Pull Requests

Use mode: check to verify that the Aptfile is consistent with what the build environment provides, without installing anything:

- name: Validate dependencies
  uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1
  with:
    mode: check

This is useful as a lightweight lint step on pull requests.

Pinning a Version

To use a specific apt-bundle release rather than latest:

- uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1
  with:
    version: 1.2.3

Custom Aptfile Location

- uses: apt-bundle/apt-bundle-action@v1
  with:
    file: .github/Aptfile

Requirements

Ubuntu runners only (ubuntu-*)
Standard GitHub-hosted runners have the necessary sudo access

See the action repository for the full source and changelog.