Improve CI workflows

Made several enhancements to the GitHub Actions workflows:
* Enhanced the workflows to use more recent versions of Actions.
* Fixed a reference to a job's output.

Author: sophokles73

.github/workflows/check-dependencies.yaml

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ jobs:
     name: "Check 3rd party licenses"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
     - name: Determine 3rd party dependencies
       working-directory: ${{github.workspace}}
       run: |

.github/workflows/check.yaml

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ on:
     outputs:
       test_results_url:
         description: "URL of the test results artifact"
-        value: ${{ jobs.nextest.outputs.test_results_url }}
+        value: ${{ jobs.test.outputs.test_results_url }}
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 concurrency:
@@ -46,10 +46,10 @@ jobs:
   check:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
       with:
         submodules: "recursive"
-    - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+    - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
       with: 
         toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
     - name: Run cargo check
@@ -59,10 +59,8 @@ jobs:
   fmt:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          submodules: "recursive"
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+      - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with: 
           toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
           components: rustfmt
@@ -73,10 +71,10 @@ jobs:
   clippy:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: "recursive"
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+      - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with: 
           toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
           components: clippy
@@ -90,10 +88,10 @@ jobs:
     env:
       RUSTDOCFLAGS: -Dwarnings
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: "recursive"
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+      - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with: 
           toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
       - name: Run rustdoc
@@ -106,11 +104,11 @@ jobs:
     # https://github.com/lycheeverse/lychee/issues/291
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: "recursive"
       - name: Restore lychee cache
-        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        uses: actions/cache@v5
         with:
           path: .lycheecache
           key: cache-lychee-${{ github.sha }}
@@ -119,20 +117,20 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run lychee
         uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v2
         with:
-          args: --cache --max-cache-age 1d --verbose --no-progress --exclude-path "^\/target\/.*" --exclude-path "^\/up-spec\/.*" -- "./**/*.md" "./**/*.rs" "./**/*.toml" "./**/*.yaml"
+          args: |
+            --cache --max-cache-age 1d --verbose --no-progress --exclude-path './target/' --exclude-path './up-spec/' -- './**/*.md' './**/*.rs' './**/*.toml' './**/*.yaml'
 
   feature-check:
-    # Comprehensive check on dependencies for all feature flag combinations, excluding development dependencies
+    # Comprehensive check for feature flag combinations, excluding development dependencies
     needs: check
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: "recursive"
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+      - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with: 
           toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
-      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
       - uses: taiki-e/install-action@cargo-hack
       - name: Run cargo hack powerset
         run: |
@@ -147,10 +145,10 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         feature-flags: ["", "--no-default-features", "--all-features"]
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: "recursive"
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+      - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with: 
           toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
       - name: Run lib tests
@@ -164,7 +162,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Upload all-features test results artifact
         id: test_results
         if: matrix.feature-flags == '--all-features'
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
         with:
           name: test-results
           # include all test result files

.github/workflows/latest-up-spec-compatibility.yaml

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ jobs:
   requirements-tracing:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: "recursive"
       - name: Fast-Forward to HEAD revision of uProtocol Spec main branch
@@ -65,10 +65,9 @@ jobs:
 
       # now try to build and run the tests which may fail if incomaptible changes
       # have been introduced into the uProtocol Core API
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@master
+      - uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with: 
           toolchain: ${{ env.RUST_TOOLCHAIN }}
-      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
       - uses: taiki-e/install-action@nextest
       - name: Run tests
         run: |