Gradle CI fails on documentation-only PR due to flaky tests and workflow approval requirements

[akshith30388]

Describe the bug

When submitting a documentation-only pull request (updating README.md) to OpenSearch, the Gradle CI checks repeatedly fail due to flaky tests and workflow approval restrictions, even though no production code was modified. This prevents the PR from being merged and creates unnecessary delays for documentation contributors.

Related component

No response

To Reproduce

🔁 To Reproduce

Fork the OpenSearch repository.

Create a branch and modify only README.md.

Open a pull request to the main branch.

Observe:

Gradle check failures unrelated to documentation changes.

CI blocked due to workflow approval required.

Repeated flaky test reports such as:

FileBasedIngestionSingleNodeTests

:plugins:telemetry-otel:test

:plugins:repository-hdfs:test

Expected behavior

Documentation-only PRs should not fail due to unrelated Gradle test failures.

CI pipelines should skip heavy test runs for markdown-only changes.

Contributors should not require manual workflow approval for non-code updates.

File renaming issues should be clearly flagged before CI runs.

Additional Details

PR Link: Enhance README.md: Improve formatting, accessibility, and clarity #19716

Branch: akshith30388:update-readme

Total Commits: 5

Only modified files:

README.md

Related docs content

[andrross]

Catch All Triage - 1 2 3

@akshith30388 I think this is already implemented. See:

https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/blob/main/.github/workflows/gradle-check.yml#L19-L32

You're PR is triggering the heavyweight tests because you added a new file that doesn't match the rules defined above. You're PR is also failing due to valid failures (e.g. the DCO check).