How to make github actions step fail if the previous step has failed?

Question

I have written a ci process to build and deploy docker images using github actions. There is a strange behavior seen i.e. when the make file fails due to any reason the steps in the github actions are still continued instead of stopping at the failed step. I am using only one job in my ci and multiple steps within it.

Example error: make[1]: [../../Makefile:22: docker-build-generic] Error 1 (ignored)

user_3651792 · Answer

Github Actions do not actually run sequentially: they will run in parallel if there are enough resources. If one job relies on another, use the needs syntax.

Modified example from the documentation:

jobs:
  job1:
  job2:
    needs: job1

Here job2 will wait for job1 to succeed before running. If job1 fails, job2 will not run.

How to make github actions step fail if the previous step has failed?

1 Answers