Publish workflow fails when creating a new stable branch

[andy-maier]

From https://github.com/zhmcclient/zhmc-ansible-modules/actions/runs/7530272165/job/20496277347:

1s
Run actions/github-script@v6
  with:
    script: github.rest.git.createRef({
    owner: context.repo.owner,
    repo: context.repo.repo,
    ref: "refs/heads/stable_1.8",
    sha: "fd0fc8a21990b608dfface36dd352dc2969ac851",
  })
  
    github-token: ***
    debug: false
    user-agent: actions/github-script
    result-encoding: json
    retries: 0
    retry-exempt-status-codes: 400,401,403,404,422
  env:
    pythonLocation: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.10.13/x64
    PKG_CONFIG_PATH: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.10.13/x64/lib/pkgconfig
    Python_ROOT_DIR: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.10.13/x64
    Python2_ROOT_DIR: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.10.13/x64
    Python3_ROOT_DIR: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.10.13/x64
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.10.13/x64/lib
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ***
RequestError [HttpError]: Reference update failed
    at /home/runner/work/_actions/actions/github-script/v6/dist/index.js:6842:21
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:96:5) {
  status: 422,
  response: {
    url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/zhmcclient/zhmc-ansible-modules/git/refs',
    status: 422,
    headers: {
      'access-control-allow-origin': '*',
      'access-control-expose-headers': 'ETag, Link, Location, Retry-After, X-GitHub-OTP, X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Used, X-RateLimit-Resource, X-RateLimit-Reset, X-OAuth-Scopes, X-Accepted-OAuth-Scopes, X-Poll-Interval, X-GitHub-Media-Type, X-GitHub-SSO, X-GitHub-Request-Id, Deprecation, Sunset',
      connection: 'close',
      'content-length': '116',
      'content-security-policy': "default-src 'none'",
      'content-type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
      date: 'Mon, 15 Jan 2024 14:38:31 GMT',
      'referrer-policy': 'origin-when-cross-origin, strict-origin-when-cross-origin',
      server: 'GitHub.com',
      'strict-transport-security': 'max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains; preload',
      vary: 'Accept-Encoding, Accept, X-Requested-With',
      'x-accepted-github-permissions': 'contents=write; contents=write,workflows=write',
      'x-content-type-options': 'nosniff',
      'x-frame-options': 'deny',
      'x-github-api-version-selected': '2022-11-28',
      'x-github-media-type': 'github.v3; format=json',
      'x-github-request-id': '486A:0EB4:14B87FF:2B15782:65A54366',
      'x-ratelimit-limit': '1000',
      'x-ratelimit-remaining': '957',
      'x-ratelimit-reset': '1705331790',
      'x-ratelimit-resource': 'core',
      'x-ratelimit-used': '43',
      'x-xss-protection': '0'
    },
    data: {
      message: 'Reference update failed',
      documentation_url: 'https://docs.github.com/rest/git/refs#create-a-reference'
    }
  },
  request: {
    method: 'POST',
    url: 'https://api.github.com/repos/zhmcclient/zhmc-ansible-modules/git/refs',
    headers: {
      accept: 'application/vnd.github.v3+json',
      'user-agent': 'actions/github-script octokit-core.js/3.6.0 Node.js/16.20.2 (linux; x64)',
      authorization: 'token [REDACTED]',
      'content-type': 'application/json; charset=utf-8'
    },
    body: '{"ref":"refs/heads/stable_1.8","sha":"fd0fc8a21990b608dfface36dd352dc2969ac851"}',
    request: { agent: [Agent], hook: [Function: bound bound register] }
  }
}
Error: Unhandled error: HttpError: Reference update failed

Circumvention: Since this is the last step in the workflow, the new stable branch can simply be created manually.