Upgrade GitHub Actions for Node 24 compatibility

[salmanmkc]

Summary

Upgrade GitHub Actions to their latest versions to ensure compatibility with Node 24, as Node 20 will reach end-of-life in April 2026.

Changes

Action	Old Version(s)	New Version	Release	Files
actions/cache	v3	v5	Release	build-cross-compile.yml
actions/checkout	v3	v6	Release	build-cross-compile.yml, build-linux.yml, build-macos.yml, build-windows.yml, test.yml
actions/github-script	v6	v8	Release	main.yml, test.yml
actions/upload-artifact	v3	v6	Release	test.yml

Context

Per GitHub's announcement, Node 20 is being deprecated and runners will begin using Node 24 by default starting March 4th, 2026.

Why this matters

• Node 20 EOL: April 2026
• Node 24 default: March 4th, 2026
• Action: Update to latest action versions that support Node 24

⚠️ Breaking Changes

• actions/upload-artifact (v3 → v6):
  • ⚠️ Artifacts with the same name now MERGE instead of being overwritten
  • ⚠️ Default compression changed - may affect artifact size
  • ⚠️ Consider using overwrite: true if you need the old overwrite behavior
• actions/cache (v3 → v5):
  • ⚠️ v4 uses a new caching backend - existing caches may not be reused on first run

Security Note

Actions that were previously pinned to commit SHAs remain pinned to SHAs (updated to the latest release SHA) to maintain the security benefits of immutable references.

Testing

These changes only affect CI/CD workflow configurations and should not impact application functionality. The workflows should be tested by running them on a branch before merging.

[nicowilliams]

Hey, thanks for this! I'll review next week. I'm also working on rebasing to OpenJDK 25.

Mind if I ask you whether you've been using this, how you found it, and what feedback you might have? You don't have to answer, naturally, but answers might help me get this integrated upstream!

[salmanmkc]

Hey, thanks for this! I'll review next week. I'm also working on rebasing to OpenJDK 25.

Mind if I ask you whether you've been using this, how you found it, and what feedback you might have? You don't have to answer, naturally, but answers might help me get this integrated upstream!

Been using it across various repositories, how I found it, well it was because I worked on the node 24 upgrade for actions. This link should help answer a lot https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-19-deprecation-of-node-20-on-github-actions-runners/