Deployment Rollout Controls Added to GitHub Enterprise Server

GitHub Enterprise Server 3.12, now generally available, introduces tag patterns for restricting deployment rollouts to GitHub Actions environments. The new release also introduces merge queues, a feature that automates pull request merges.

Announced March 6, GitHub Enterprise Server can be downloaded from github.com.

With the 3.12 version, developers can restrict deployment rollouts to select tag patterns in GitHub Actions environments. By configuring certain tags or tag patterns on protected environments, users can restrict which branches and tags can be deployed to those environments.

Version 3.12 also allows developers to automate pull request merges using merge queues. Merge queues automate the process of validating and merging pull requests into a busy branch, ensuring that the branch does not get broken and reducing time to merge, GitHub said.

GitHub Enterprise Server is a self-hosted platform for software development within an enterprise, leveraging Git version control. Other improvements in GitHub Enterprise Server 3.12:

• Developers can enforce which GitHub Actions workflows must pass, with organizational repository rule sets.
• Code security can be enhanced with a public beta of secret scanning for non-provider patterns.
• GitHub Project templates are generally available at the organization level, allowing customers to share and learn best practices in how to use projects and track their work.
• A public beta of Dependabot alert rules allows customers to choose how to respond to Dependabot alerts automatically by setting up custom auto-triage rules in their repository or organization.
• An alert markdown extension lets developers highlight text in markdown files, providing five levels of alert: note, tip, important, warning, and caution.
• Updated global navigation makes finding information simpler and improve accessibility and performance, GitHub said.