stale: Unable to comprehend handling of stale issue when days-before-issue-stale is -1

Describe your issue

What I want: For issues, don’t try to apply stale labels, as those are all applied manually by a human. Only go through the issues labeled as stale (manually) and close them after 7 days of inactivity. This action should not try to apply/remove the stale label but only act upon it.

What happened: I ran two configurations (see below) in dry run mode but unsure if any of them have the exact desired outcome from the logs. I wish to fully understand this behavior before production.

Case studies:

  1. astropy/astropy#11011 – Desired outcome: Close the issue, write a comment, and apply closed-by-bot label.
  2. astropy/astropy#11710 – Same outcome as above.

Your stale action configuration

I tried two configurations based on previous discussions with y’all. Relevant snippets below.

First attempt

https://github.com/astropy/astropy/blob/0e5a37485567fc2fac4429c2b4f719ebef6ab397/.github/workflows/ci_cron_daily.yml#L49-L77

jobs:
  stalebot:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/stale@v3
      with:
        debug-only: true

        days-before-issue-stale: -1
        days-before-issue-close: 7
        remove-issue-stale-when-updated: false
        close-issue-message: 'I am going to close this issue because it was marked with **Close?**, but if you feel that this issue should stay open, then feel free to re-open, remove **Close?** and **closed-by-bot** labels, and apply **keep-open** label.'
        close-issue-label: 'closed-by-bot'
        exempt-issue-labels: 'keep-open'
        any-of-issue-labels: 'Close?'

Not sure why it decided it is a no-op. At least, I think this means no-op, as I am looking for a log entry that would say “closing this issue” or something similar but I don’t see it. It just says the issues are not stale even though they are.

2021-05-20T03:18:25.6225301Z [#11011] Found this issue last updated at: 2020-11-25T03:58:26Z
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6226383Z [#11011] The option only-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#only-labels​) was not specified
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6227424Z [#11011] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6228463Z [#11011] Days before issue stale: -1
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6229217Z [#11011] The issue is not closed nor locked. Trying to remove the close label...
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6230114Z [#11011] This issue hasn't a stale label
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6231457Z [#11011] The option any-of-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#any-of-labels​) was specified to only process the issues and pull requests with one of those labels (1)
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6232768Z [#11011] ├── One of the required labels is present on this issue
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6233670Z [#11011] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6234284Z [#11011] This issue has no milestone
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6235010Z [#11011] └── Skip the milestones checks
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6243632Z [#11011] This issue has no assignee
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6244572Z [#11011] └── Skip the assignees checks
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6245232Z [#11011] This issue is not stale
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6246363Z [#11011] This issue should be stale based on the last update date the 25-11-2020 (2020-11-25T03:58:26Z)
2021-05-20T03:18:25.6248158Z [#11011] This issue should not be marked as stale based on the option days-before-issue-stale (​https://github.com/actions/stale#days-before-issue-stale​) (-1)

2021-05-20T03:18:28.4571921Z [#11710] Found this issue last updated at: 2021-05-11T13:55:55Z
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4572835Z [#11710] The option only-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#only-labels​) was not specified
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4573889Z [#11710] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4574816Z [#11710] Days before issue stale: -1
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4575541Z [#11710] The issue is not closed nor locked. Trying to remove the close label...
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4576326Z [#11710] This issue hasn't a stale label
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4577997Z [#11710] The option any-of-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#any-of-labels​) was specified to only process the issues and pull requests with one of those labels (1)
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4579489Z [#11710] ├── One of the required labels is present on this issue
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4580295Z [#11710] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4580943Z [#11710] This issue has no milestone
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4581531Z [#11710] └── Skip the milestones checks
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4582109Z [#11710] This issue has no assignee
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4582844Z [#11710] └── Skip the assignees checks
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4583471Z [#11710] This issue is not stale
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4584355Z [#11710] This issue should be stale based on the last update date the 11-05-2021 (2021-05-11T13:55:55Z)
2021-05-20T03:18:28.4585937Z [#11710] This issue should not be marked as stale based on the option days-before-issue-stale (​https://github.com/actions/stale#days-before-issue-stale​) (-1)

Second attempt

Added a stale-issue-label parameter.

https://github.com/astropy/astropy/blob/769031bb61ff8f179e932805d5587d3cdbe798a9/.github/workflows/ci_cron_daily.yml#L49-L79

jobs:
  stalebot:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/stale@v3
      with:
        debug-only: true

        days-before-issue-stale: -1
        days-before-issue-close: 7
        remove-issue-stale-when-updated: false
        close-issue-message: 'I am going to close this issue because it was marked with **Close?**, but if you feel that this issue should stay open, then feel free to re-open, remove **Close?** and **closed-by-bot** labels, and apply **keep-open** label.'
        stale-issue-label: 'Close?'
        close-issue-label: 'closed-by-bot'
        exempt-issue-labels: 'keep-open'
        any-of-issue-labels: 'Close?'

I think the first case is handled correctly, at least in theory.

2021-05-21T03:20:08.4421182Z [#11011] Found this issue last updated at: 2020-11-25T03:58:26Z
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4422019Z [#11011] The option only-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#only-labels​) was not specified
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4422801Z [#11011] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4423351Z [#11011] Days before issue stale: -1
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4423856Z [#11011] The issue is not closed nor locked. Trying to remove the close label...
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4424335Z [#11011] This issue has a stale label
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4425459Z [#11011] The option any-of-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#any-of-labels​) was specified to only process the issues and pull requests with one of those labels (1)
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4426721Z [#11011] ├── One of the required labels is present on this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4427393Z [#11011] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4428001Z [#11011] This issue has no milestone
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4428535Z [#11011] └── Skip the milestones checks
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4428943Z [#11011] This issue has no assignee
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4429461Z [#11011] └── Skip the assignees checks
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4429863Z [#11011] This issue is already stale
2021-05-21T03:20:08.4430304Z [#11011] Checking for label on this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:08.5879512Z [#11011] Issue marked stale on: 2020-11-10T20:16:37Z
2021-05-21T03:20:08.5880177Z [#11011] Checking for comments on issue since: 2020-11-10T20:16:37Z
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6725745Z [#11011] Comments not made by actor or another bot: 0
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6726219Z [#11011] Issue has been commented on: false
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6726661Z [#11011] Days before issue close: 7
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6727044Z [#11011] Issue has been updated: false
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6728069Z [#11011] Closing issue because it was last updated on! 2020-11-25T03:58:26Z
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6728549Z [#11011] Closing issue for being stale
2021-05-21T03:20:08.6728960Z [#11011] 1 operation consumed for this issue

I don’t know why it is trying to remove the stale label for the second case. This is not what I thought would happen.

2021-05-21T03:20:03.5529594Z [#11710] Found this issue last updated at: 2021-05-11T13:55:55Z
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5530597Z [#11710] The option only-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#only-labels​) was not specified
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5531417Z [#11710] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5531988Z [#11710] Days before issue stale: -1
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5532488Z [#11710] The issue is not closed nor locked. Trying to remove the close label...
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5532994Z [#11710] This issue has a stale label
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5534051Z [#11710] The option any-of-labels (​https://github.com/actions/stale#any-of-labels​) was specified to only process the issues and pull requests with one of those labels (1)
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5535077Z [#11710] ├── One of the required labels is present on this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5535703Z [#11710] └── Continuing the process for this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5536135Z [#11710] This issue has no milestone
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5536674Z [#11710] └── Skip the milestones checks
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5537175Z [#11710] This issue has no assignee
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5537759Z [#11710] └── Skip the assignees checks
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5538155Z [#11710] This issue is already stale
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5538558Z [#11710] Checking for label on this issue
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5539104Z [#11710] Issue marked stale on: 2021-05-10T16:05:13Z
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5539703Z [#11710] Checking for comments on issue since: 2021-05-10T16:05:13Z
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5540180Z [#11710] Comments not made by actor or another bot: 2
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5540657Z [#11710] Issue has been commented on: true
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5541046Z [#11710] Days before issue close: 7
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5541431Z [#11710] Issue has been updated: false
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5541904Z [#11710] The issue is no longer stale. Removing the stale label...
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5542408Z [#11710] Removing the label "Close?" from this issue...
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5543090Z [#11710] Skipping the process since the issue is now un-stale
2021-05-21T03:20:03.5543591Z [#11710] 1 operation consumed for this issue

Further context

astropy/astropy#11070

About this issue

  • Original URL
  • State: closed
  • Created 3 years ago
  • Comments: 24 (11 by maintainers)

Commits related to this issue

Most upvoted comments

For academic purpose, I share with you the logic we decided to go with. If you end up using it, please be advised that I wrote it for a particular project in mind and probably won’t try to generalize it for other policies: https://github.com/pllim/action-astropy-stalebot

+1
pllim on Aug 31, 2021

Ok, I’ll reopen then. 😃

+1
pllim on Aug 31, 2021

@pllim I found an issue that I created… It’s comforting me in the decision to increase the quantity of logs and give transparency over which option cause what with what kind of value behind it because in this case, the culprit would have been identified quite sooner.

So, here is the mistake: https://github.com/actions/stale/blob/e8845990724aed85a03e40a7f08c25673821a934/src/main.ts#L53 As you can, you see, instead of giving to _toOptionalBoolean the name of the input, it get the value… I forgot that internally, the function already get the input so the value at the end given to this option was not the right one… Sorry!

+1
C0ZEN on Jun 1, 2021

If you wait for the merge of https://github.com/actions/stale/pull/463, and update your config to use the main branch, you can enable the debug logs and the debug-only option as mentioned in the documentation. No operation will be executed on your repository and the logs will still be visible.

+1
C0ZEN on May 26, 2021

maybe you can update your workflow config to point to my PR

I think that is possible but I might not get to it for a few days. Thanks for all your help!

+1
pllim on May 24, 2021

I will take a look at the second case later

+1
C0ZEN on May 24, 2021
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