make validate.yml consistent with master

Author: geekosaur

.github/workflows/validate.yml

@@ -66,18 +66,20 @@ jobs:
       GHC_FOR_RELEASE: ${{ format('["{0}"]', env.GHC_FOR_RELEASE) }}
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        os: ['ubuntu-latest', 'macos-13', 'windows-latest']
-        # If you remove something from here.. then add it to the old-ghcs job.
+        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-13, windows-latest]
+        # If you remove something from here, then add it to the old-ghcs job.
+        # Also a removed GHC from here means that we are actually dropping
+        # support, so the PR *must* have a changelog entry.
         ghc: ['9.8.2', '9.6.4', '9.4.8', '9.2.8', '9.0.2', '8.10.7', '8.8.4', '8.6.5']
         exclude:
           # corrupts GHA cache or the fabric of reality itself, see https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/8356
-          - os: 'windows-latest'
+          - os: windows-latest
             ghc: '8.10.7'
           # lot of segfaults caused by ghc bugs
-          - os: 'windows-latest'
+          - os: windows-latest
             ghc: '8.8.4'
           # it often randomly does "C:\Users\RUNNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp\ghcFEDE.c: DeleteFile "\\\\?\\C:\\Users\\RUNNER~1\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\ghcFEDE.c": permission denied (Access is denied.)"
-          - os: 'windows-latest'
+          - os: windows-latest
             ghc: '8.6.5'
 
     steps:
@@ -210,7 +212,7 @@ jobs:
 
   validate-old-ghcs:
     name: Validate old ghcs ${{ matrix.extra-ghc }}
-    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: validate
 
     strategy:
@@ -269,7 +271,7 @@ jobs:
 
   build-alpine:
     name: Build statically linked using alpine
-    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     container: 'alpine:3.19'
     steps:
       - name: Install extra dependencies
@@ -340,7 +342,7 @@ jobs:
     needs: validate
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        os: ['ubuntu-latest', 'macos-latest', 'windows-latest']
+        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
         # We only use one ghc version the used one for the next release (defined at top of the workflow)
         # We need to build an array dynamically to inject the appropiate env var in a previous job,
         # see https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/expressions#fromjson
@@ -380,11 +382,11 @@ jobs:
 
   prerelease-head:
     name: Create a GitHub prerelease with the binary artifacts
-    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
 
     # IMPORTANT! Any job added to the workflow should be added here too
-    needs: ['validate', 'validate-old-ghcs', 'build-alpine', 'dogfooding']
+    needs: [validate, validate-old-ghcs, build-alpine, dogfooding]
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
@@ -423,9 +425,9 @@ jobs:
   validate-post-job:
     if: always()
     name: Validate post job
-    runs-on: 'ubuntu-latest'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     # IMPORTANT! Any job added to the workflow should be added here too
-    needs: ['validate', 'validate-old-ghcs', 'build-alpine', 'dogfooding']
+    needs: [validate, validate-old-ghcs, build-alpine, dogfooding]
 
     steps:
       - run: |