ci(pr): skip build/test jobs for ci/docker-only changes

[rgsl888prabhu]

Summary

• Add !ci/docker/** to all four changed-files filter groups in .github/workflows/pr.yaml (build_docs, test_cpp, test_python_conda, test_python_wheels).
• Dockerfile-only PRs were tripping every conda/wheel build and test, even though the image itself is built and tested in build_test_publish_images.yaml (post-merge build.yaml), not in pr.yaml. Result: maximum CI cost, zero coverage of the change. This patch makes such PRs skip the irrelevant jobs.

Why

Each filter group starts with '**' and excludes specific paths with !. Every other script under ci/ (ci/build_*.sh, ci/test_*.sh, ci/release/**, ci/thirdparty-testing/**, etc.) is already excluded; ci/docker/** was an oversight. Adding it brings the deny list in line with the rest of ci/ and matches the intent of the existing !.github/workflows/build_test_publish_images.yaml exclusion (which keeps changes to the image-publish workflow itself out of pr.yaml).

Follow-up (not in this PR)

If we want Dockerfile changes to actually be smoke-tested on PRs, that needs a separate if:-gated job in pr.yaml that calls build_test_publish_images.yaml when ci/docker/** changes. Out of scope here — the goal of this PR is just to stop wasting CI cycles.

Test plan

• Land this PR; on a follow-up Dockerfile-only PR, confirm only checks / pr-builder / changed-files run and the conda/wheel/docs jobs are skipped.
• On a code-touching PR (e.g. modifying cpp/ or python/), confirm the full matrix still runs.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 7ce4909 and 6a89222.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• .github/workflows/pr.yaml

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The PR updates the GitHub Actions changed-files path filters to add an exclusion pattern !ci/docker/** so changes limited to ci/docker/** do not trigger several job groups.

Changes

CI Workflow Configuration

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Config change .github/workflows/pr.yaml	Adds exclusion pattern !ci/docker/** to the changed-files path filters for build_docs, test_cpp, test_python_conda, and test_python_wheels groups (four separate pattern entries).

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the main change: adding exclusions to skip build/test jobs for Dockerfile-only changes in the CI workflow.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is detailed and directly related to the changeset, explaining the motivation, implementation, and testing approach for the Dockerfile-only CI skip feature.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch skip-pr-ci-for-dockerfile-changes

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[mlubin]

Hmm, couldn't changes to the dockerfiles cause other downstream tests to fail? Are these describing the docker containers that the tests run in?

[rgsl888prabhu]

These docker images are built only in night-lies, so these will not get built in any PRs, so they will not be tested.

[rgsl888prabhu]

And normally if the packages are getting built in conda and wheel env and running, this should work. But there are corner cases that might break.