Fix event.json not being copied to /github/workflow in kubernetes-novolume mode (#287)

In run-script-step, the _temp directory was being copied to the workflow pod,
but the _github_home and _github_workflow directories were not being moved
from their temporary location to the /github directory structure where they
are expected by GitHub Actions.

This caused event.json to be missing at /github/workflow/event.json, breaking
actions that depend on GITHUB_EVENT_PATH.

The fix adds a setup step that copies _github_home and _github_workflow from
/__w/_temp/ to /github/ after copying the temp directory to the pod, matching
the behavior of run-container-step and prepareJobScript.

Uses cp -r instead of symlinks to avoid symlink validation errors when copying
files back from the pod to the runner.

package.json

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     "format": "prettier --write '**/*.ts'",
     "format-check": "prettier --check '**/*.ts'",
     "lint": "eslint packages/**/*.ts",
+    "lint:fix": "eslint packages/**/*.ts --fix",
     "build-all": "npm run build --prefix packages/hooklib && npm run build --prefix packages/k8s && npm run build --prefix packages/docker"
   },
   "repository": {

packages/k8s/README.md

@@ -41,3 +41,4 @@ rules:
 - Container actions will not have access to the services network or job container network
 - Docker [create options](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idcontaineroptions) are not supported
 - Container actions will have to specify the entrypoint, since the default entrypoint will be overridden to run the commands from the workflow.
+- Container actions need to have the following binaries in their container image: `sh`, `env`, `tail`.

packages/k8s/src/hooks/run-container-step.ts

@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ export async function runContainerStep(
     try {
       core.debug(`Executing container step script in pod ${podName}`)
       return await execPodStep(
-        ['/__e/sh', '-e', containerPath],
+        ['sh', '-e', containerPath],
         pod.metadata.name,
         JOB_CONTAINER_NAME
       )
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ function createContainerSpec(
   podContainer.name = JOB_CONTAINER_NAME
   podContainer.image = container.image
   podContainer.workingDir = '/__w'
-  podContainer.command = ['/__e/tail']
+  podContainer.command = ['tail']
   podContainer.args = DEFAULT_CONTAINER_ENTRY_POINT_ARGS
 
   podContainer.volumeMounts = CONTAINER_VOLUMES

packages/k8s/src/hooks/run-script-step.ts

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { execCpFromPod, execCpToPod, execPodStep } from '../k8s'
 import { writeRunScript, sleep, listDirAllCommand } from '../k8s/utils'
 import { JOB_CONTAINER_NAME } from './constants'
 import { dirname } from 'path'
+import * as shlex from 'shlex'
 
 export async function runScriptStep(
   args: RunScriptStepArgs,
@@ -26,6 +27,23 @@ export async function runScriptStep(
   const runnerTemp = `${workdir}/_temp`
   await execCpToPod(state.jobPod, runnerTemp, containerTemp)
 
+  // Copy GitHub directories from temp to /github
+  const setupCommands = [
+    'mkdir -p /github',
+    'cp -r /__w/_temp/_github_home /github/home',
+    'cp -r /__w/_temp/_github_workflow /github/workflow'
+  ]
+
+  try {
+    await execPodStep(
+      ['sh', '-c', shlex.quote(setupCommands.join(' && '))],
+      state.jobPod,
+      JOB_CONTAINER_NAME
+    )
+  } catch (err) {
+    core.debug(`Failed to copy GitHub directories: ${JSON.stringify(err)}`)
+  }
+
   // Execute the entrypoint script
   args.entryPoint = 'sh'
   args.entryPointArgs = ['-e', containerPath]

packages/k8s/src/k8s/index.ts

@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ import {
   listDirAllCommand,
   sleep,
   EXTERNALS_VOLUME_NAME,
-  GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME
+  GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME,
+  WORK_VOLUME
 } from './utils'
+import * as shlex from 'shlex'
 
 const kc = new k8s.KubeConfig()
 
@@ -91,13 +93,33 @@ export async function createJobPod(
 
   appPod.spec = new k8s.V1PodSpec()
   appPod.spec.containers = containers
+  appPod.spec.securityContext = {
+    fsGroup: 1001
+  }
+
+  // Extract working directory from GITHUB_WORKSPACE
+  // GITHUB_WORKSPACE is like /__w/repo-name/repo-name
+  const githubWorkspace = process.env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE
+  const workingDirPath = githubWorkspace?.split('/').slice(-2).join('/') ?? ''
+
+  const initCommands = [
+    'mkdir -p /mnt/externals',
+    'mkdir -p /mnt/work',
+    'mkdir -p /mnt/github',
+    'mv /home/runner/externals/* /mnt/externals/'
+  ]
+
+  if (workingDirPath) {
+    initCommands.push(`mkdir -p /mnt/work/${workingDirPath}`)
+  }
+
   appPod.spec.initContainers = [
     {
       name: 'fs-init',
       image:
         process.env.ACTIONS_RUNNER_IMAGE ||
         'ghcr.io/actions/actions-runner:latest',
-      command: ['sh', '-c', 'sudo mv /home/runner/externals/* /mnt/externals'],
+      command: ['sh', '-c', initCommands.join(' && ')],
       securityContext: {
         runAsGroup: 1001,
         runAsUser: 1001
@@ -106,6 +128,14 @@ export async function createJobPod(
         {
           name: EXTERNALS_VOLUME_NAME,
           mountPath: '/mnt/externals'
+        },
+        {
+          name: WORK_VOLUME,
+          mountPath: '/mnt/work'
+        },
+        {
+          name: GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME,
+          mountPath: '/mnt/github'
         }
       ]
     }
@@ -121,6 +151,10 @@ export async function createJobPod(
     {
       name: GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME,
       emptyDir: {}
+    },
+    {
+      name: WORK_VOLUME,
+      emptyDir: {}
     }
   ]
 
@@ -169,33 +203,6 @@ export async function createContainerStepPod(
 
   appPod.spec = new k8s.V1PodSpec()
   appPod.spec.containers = [container]
-  appPod.spec.initContainers = [
-    {
-      name: 'fs-init',
-      image:
-        process.env.ACTIONS_RUNNER_IMAGE ||
-        'ghcr.io/actions/actions-runner:latest',
-      command: [
-        'bash',
-        '-c',
-        `sudo cp $(which sh) /mnt/externals/sh \
-        && sudo cp $(which tail) /mnt/externals/tail \
-        && sudo cp $(which env) /mnt/externals/env \
-        && sudo chmod -R 777 /mnt/externals`
-      ],
-      securityContext: {
-        runAsGroup: 1001,
-        runAsUser: 1001,
-        privileged: true
-      },
-      volumeMounts: [
-        {
-          name: EXTERNALS_VOLUME_NAME,
-          mountPath: '/mnt/externals'
-        }
-      ]
-    }
-  ]
 
   appPod.spec.restartPolicy = 'Never'
 
@@ -207,6 +214,10 @@ export async function createContainerStepPod(
     {
       name: GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME,
       emptyDir: {}
+    },
+    {
+      name: WORK_VOLUME,
+      emptyDir: {}
     }
   ]
 
@@ -271,19 +282,18 @@ export async function execPodStep(
   })
 }
 
-export async function execCalculateOutputHash(
+export async function execCalculateOutputHashSorted(
   podName: string,
   containerName: string,
   command: string[]
 ): Promise<string> {
   const exec = new k8s.Exec(kc)
 
-  // Create a writable stream that updates a SHA-256 hash with stdout data
+  let output = ''
-  const hash = createHash('sha256')
+  const outputWriter = new stream.Writable({
-  const hashWriter = new stream.Writable({
     write(chunk, _enc, cb) {
       try {
-        hash.update(chunk.toString('utf8') as Buffer)
+        output += chunk.toString('utf8')
         cb()
       } catch (e) {
         cb(e as Error)
@@ -298,7 +308,7 @@ export async function execCalculateOutputHash(
         podName,
         containerName,
         command,
-        hashWriter, // capture stdout for hashing
+        outputWriter, // capture stdout
         process.stderr,
         null,
         false /* tty */,
@@ -320,27 +330,46 @@ export async function execCalculateOutputHash(
       .catch(e => reject(e))
   })
 
-  // finalize hash and return digest
+  outputWriter.end()
-  hashWriter.end()
 
+  // Sort lines for consistent ordering across platforms
+  const sortedOutput =
+    output
+      .split('\n')
+      .filter(line => line.length > 0)
+      .sort()
+      .join('\n') + '\n'
+
+  const hash = createHash('sha256')
+  hash.update(sortedOutput)
   return hash.digest('hex')
 }
 
-export async function localCalculateOutputHash(
+export async function localCalculateOutputHashSorted(
   commands: string[]
 ): Promise<string> {
   return await new Promise<string>((resolve, reject) => {
-    const hash = createHash('sha256')
     const child = spawn(commands[0], commands.slice(1), {
       stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'ignore']
     })
 
+    let output = ''
     child.stdout.on('data', chunk => {
-      hash.update(chunk)
+      output += chunk.toString('utf8')
     })
     child.on('error', reject)
     child.on('close', (code: number) => {
       if (code === 0) {
+        // Sort lines for consistent ordering across distributions/platforms
+        const sortedOutput =
+          output
+            .split('\n')
+            .filter(line => line.length > 0)
+            .sort()
+            .join('\n') + '\n'
+
+        const hash = createHash('sha256')
+        hash.update(sortedOutput)
         resolve(hash.digest('hex'))
       } else {
         reject(new Error(`child process exited with code ${code}`))
@@ -360,7 +389,15 @@ export async function execCpToPod(
   while (true) {
     try {
       const exec = new k8s.Exec(kc)
-      const command = ['tar', 'xf', '-', '-C', containerPath]
+      // Use tar to extract with --no-same-owner to avoid ownership issues.
+      // Then use find to fix permissions. The -m flag helps but we also need to fix permissions after.
+      const command = [
+        'sh',
+        '-c',
+        `tar xf - --no-same-owner -C ${shlex.quote(containerPath)} 2>/dev/null; ` +
+          `find ${shlex.quote(containerPath)} -type f -exec chmod u+rw {} \\; 2>/dev/null; ` +
+          `find ${shlex.quote(containerPath)} -type d -exec chmod u+rwx {} \\; 2>/dev/null`
+      ]
       const readStream = tar.pack(runnerPath)
       const errStream = new WritableStreamBuffer()
       await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
@@ -378,7 +415,7 @@ export async function execCpToPod(
               if (errStream.size()) {
                 reject(
                   new Error(
-                    `Error from cpFromPod - details: \n ${errStream.getContentsAsString()}`
+                    `Error from execCpToPod - status: ${status.status}, details: \n ${errStream.getContentsAsString()}`
                   )
                 )
               }
@@ -400,21 +437,21 @@ export async function execCpToPod(
     }
   }
 
-  const want = await localCalculateOutputHash([
+  let attempts = 15
+  const delay = 1000
+  for (let i = 0; i < attempts; i++) {
+    try {
+      const want = await localCalculateOutputHashSorted([
         'sh',
         '-c',
         listDirAllCommand(runnerPath)
       ])
 
-  let attempts = 15
+      const got = await execCalculateOutputHashSorted(
-  const delay = 1000
+        podName,
-  for (let i = 0; i < attempts; i++) {
+        JOB_CONTAINER_NAME,
-    try {
+        ['sh', '-c', listDirAllCommand(containerPath)]
-      const got = await execCalculateOutputHash(podName, JOB_CONTAINER_NAME, [
+      )
-        'sh',
-        '-c',
-        listDirAllCommand(containerPath)
-      ])
 
       if (got !== want) {
         core.debug(
@@ -441,11 +478,6 @@ export async function execCpFromPod(
   core.debug(
     `Copying from pod ${podName} ${containerPath} to ${targetRunnerPath}`
   )
-  const want = await execCalculateOutputHash(podName, JOB_CONTAINER_NAME, [
-    'sh',
-    '-c',
-    listDirAllCommand(containerPath)
-  ])
 
   let attempt = 0
   while (true) {
@@ -506,7 +538,13 @@ export async function execCpFromPod(
   const delay = 1000
   for (let i = 0; i < attempts; i++) {
     try {
-      const got = await localCalculateOutputHash([
+      const want = await execCalculateOutputHashSorted(
+        podName,
+        JOB_CONTAINER_NAME,
+        ['sh', '-c', listDirAllCommand(containerPath)]
+      )
+
+      const got = await localCalculateOutputHashSorted([
         'sh',
         '-c',
         listDirAllCommand(targetRunnerPath)

packages/k8s/src/k8s/utils.ts

@@ -15,12 +15,17 @@ export const ENV_USE_KUBE_SCHEDULER = 'ACTIONS_RUNNER_USE_KUBE_SCHEDULER'
 
 export const EXTERNALS_VOLUME_NAME = 'externals'
 export const GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME = 'github'
+export const WORK_VOLUME = 'work'
 
 export const CONTAINER_VOLUMES: k8s.V1VolumeMount[] = [
   {
     name: EXTERNALS_VOLUME_NAME,
     mountPath: '/__e'
   },
+  {
+    name: WORK_VOLUME,
+    mountPath: '/__w'
+  },
   {
     name: GITHUB_VOLUME_NAME,
     mountPath: '/github'
@@ -102,7 +107,7 @@ export function writeContainerStepScript(
 rm "$0" # remove script after running
 mv /__w/_temp/_github_home /github/home && \
 mv /__w/_temp/_github_workflow /github/workflow && \
-mv /__w/_temp/_runner_file_commands /github/file_commands && \
+mv /__w/_temp/_runner_file_commands /github/file_commands || true && \
 mv /__w/${parts.join('/')}/ /github/workspace && \
 cd /github/workspace && \
 exec ${environmentPrefix} ${entryPoint} ${
@@ -291,5 +296,5 @@ export async function sleep(ms: number): Promise<void> {
 }
 
 export function listDirAllCommand(dir: string): string {
-  return `cd ${shlex.quote(dir)} && find . -not -path '*/_runner_hook_responses*' -exec stat -c '%b %n' {} \\;`
+  return `cd ${shlex.quote(dir)} && find . -not -path '*/_runner_hook_responses*' -exec stat -c '%s %n' {} \\;`
 }

packages/k8s/tests/e2e-test.ts

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ describe('e2e', () => {
   afterEach(async () => {
     await testHelper.cleanup()
   })
+
   it('should prepare job, run script step, run container step then cleanup without errors', async () => {
     await expect(
       prepareJob(prepareJobData.args, prepareJobOutputFilePath)

packages/k8s/tests/prepare-job-test.ts

@@ -231,4 +231,20 @@ describe('Prepare job', () => {
       expect(() => content.context.services[0].image).not.toThrow()
     }
   )
+
+  it('should prepare job with container with non-root user', async () => {
+    prepareJobData.args!.container!.image =
+      'ghcr.io/actions/actions-runner:latest' // known to use user 1001
+    await expect(
+      prepareJob(prepareJobData.args, prepareJobOutputFilePath)
+    ).resolves.not.toThrow()
+
+    const content = JSON.parse(
+      fs.readFileSync(prepareJobOutputFilePath).toString()
+    )
+    expect(content.state.jobPod).toBeTruthy()
+    expect(content.context.container.image).toBe(
+      'ghcr.io/actions/actions-runner:latest'
+    )
+  })
 })