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tonylomartire-9398 avatar image
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tonylomartire-9398 asked lextm edited

What is the difference between App Service Build Service and Github Actions?

So I understand how Github actions works but I'm unable to find documentation on what exactly comprises the "App Service Build Service". I made an app service for a node.js application, and the first deployment I did defaulted to the app service build service. This did not create a .github/workflow file, it seems Azure is doing some behind-the-scenes magic to pull the repo on push. When I added a deployment slot for staging, that defaulted to Github Actions and did create a .github/workflow file on my staging branch.

I'd like to understand what exactly the "App Service Build Service" is, and is that preferable to Github Actions or not? I forget exactly where but I believe I read in the documentation what Github Actions was the recommended way to build, but the app service defaulted to App Service Build Service at least for the first deployment slot.

azure-webapps
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1 Answer

lextm avatar image
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lextm answered lextm edited

App Service Build Service exists long before GitHub Actions.

Like documented in "Prepare your repository" section of this article, if your Git repo associated with an App Service instance contains only source code, then the build server will use predefined build scripts to generate deployment artifacts.

You see that App Service supports quite a few source types other than GitHub from "Configure the deployment source" section, so such predefined scripts are quite useful.

Of course, when GitHub Actions was introduced, App Service can generate a default workflow file for you (in first deployment), so that you can further customize your own workflow file when needed. I think that's a nice addition.

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