Specify scope of default environment variables

[valentin-krasontovitsch]

It is not obvious that default environment variables will not be available in the env context. We add a note to that regard.

Why:

Closes: #24895

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[cmwilson21]

@valentin-krasontovitsch Thank you for opening a PR and linking it to your issue! ✨

I'll get this triaged for review! :zap:

[valentin-krasontovitsch]

four months for a simple, small docs update. I have my own project that I'm woefully neglecting, so I understand this can happen, but that one has just one maintainer, and is free-time based :sweat_smile:

[cmwilson21]

@valentin-krasontovitsch Thanks for checking in on this. It is up on the board for review 👍

We appreciate your patience as we are working through our backlog 💖

[valentin-krasontovitsch]

Of course, thank you for your response, and godspeed :rainbow:

[SiaraMist]

Hey @valentin-krasontovitsch, thank you so much for your patience with us as we work through our backlog. 🙇‍♀️

I do see how it would be confusing for users to know how to use default environment variables in workflows with the way the docs are currently written. There is a note underneath the table of default environment variables that says:

Most of the default variables have a corresponding, and similarly named, context property. For example, the value of the GITHUB_REF variable can be read during workflow processing using the ${{ github.ref }} context property.

What do you think of this idea:

We could move that out of the note and into its own paragraph after the first sentence in the introduction. We could also add a sentence before it so that we say something along the lines of:

Because default environment variables are set by GitHub and not defined in a workflow, they are not accessed through the env context. However, most of the default variables have a corresponding, and similarly named, context property. For example, the value of the GITHUB_REF variable can be read during workflow processing using the ${{ github.ref }} context property.

Would that make things more clear in this doc? Let me know! Thank you for helping to improve GitHub's docs! ⚡

[valentin-krasontovitsch]

yes i think that would definitely help! thanks for the much better suggestion : )

should i change this PR to reflect your suggestions, or close this one and leave it to you / somebody else to create a new PR?

[SiaraMist]

That's awesome. 😃 @valentin-krasontovitsch if you want to update this PR, then I can accept your changes and get them merged!

[valentin-krasontovitsch]

it is done ^^

let me know if the new diff is OK, and if the commit message is up to par.

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