How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?

Automated tools are frequently used in social coding repositories to perform repetitive activities that are part of the distributed software development process. Recently, GitHub introduced GitHub Actions, a feature providing automated work-flows for repository maintainers. Although several Actions...

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Main Authors: KINSMAN, Timothy, WESSEL, Mairieli, GEROSA, Marco, TREUDE, Christoph
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/8858
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/9861/viewcontent/msr21a.pdf
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Institution: Singapore Management University
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spelling sg-smu-ink.sis_research-98612024-06-13T09:13:23Z How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows? KINSMAN, Timothy WESSEL, Mairieli GEROSA, Marco TREUDE, Christoph Automated tools are frequently used in social coding repositories to perform repetitive activities that are part of the distributed software development process. Recently, GitHub introduced GitHub Actions, a feature providing automated work-flows for repository maintainers. Although several Actions have been built and used by practitioners, relatively little has been done to evaluate them. Understanding and anticipating the effects of adopting such kind of technology is important for planning and management. Our research is the first to investigate how developers use Actions and how several activity indicators change after their adoption. Our results indicate that, although only a small subset of repositories adopted GitHub Actions to date, there is a positive perception of the technology. Our findings also indicate that the adoption of GitHub Actions increases the number of monthly rejected pull requests and decreases the monthly number of commits on merged pull requests. These results are especially relevant for practitioners to understand and prevent undesirable effects on their projects. 2021-05-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/8858 info:doi/10.1109/MSR52588.2021.00054 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/9861/viewcontent/msr21a.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Automated work-flow GitHub Actions GitHub Bots Regression Discontinuity Design Databases and Information Systems Software Engineering
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Automated work-flow
GitHub Actions
GitHub Bots
Regression Discontinuity Design
Databases and Information Systems
Software Engineering
spellingShingle Automated work-flow
GitHub Actions
GitHub Bots
Regression Discontinuity Design
Databases and Information Systems
Software Engineering
KINSMAN, Timothy
WESSEL, Mairieli
GEROSA, Marco
TREUDE, Christoph
How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
description Automated tools are frequently used in social coding repositories to perform repetitive activities that are part of the distributed software development process. Recently, GitHub introduced GitHub Actions, a feature providing automated work-flows for repository maintainers. Although several Actions have been built and used by practitioners, relatively little has been done to evaluate them. Understanding and anticipating the effects of adopting such kind of technology is important for planning and management. Our research is the first to investigate how developers use Actions and how several activity indicators change after their adoption. Our results indicate that, although only a small subset of repositories adopted GitHub Actions to date, there is a positive perception of the technology. Our findings also indicate that the adoption of GitHub Actions increases the number of monthly rejected pull requests and decreases the monthly number of commits on merged pull requests. These results are especially relevant for practitioners to understand and prevent undesirable effects on their projects.
format text
author KINSMAN, Timothy
WESSEL, Mairieli
GEROSA, Marco
TREUDE, Christoph
author_facet KINSMAN, Timothy
WESSEL, Mairieli
GEROSA, Marco
TREUDE, Christoph
author_sort KINSMAN, Timothy
title How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
title_short How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
title_full How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
title_fullStr How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
title_full_unstemmed How do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
title_sort how do software developers use github actions to automate their workflows?
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2021
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/8858
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/9861/viewcontent/msr21a.pdf
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