cache doesn't work with github workspace directory

[erwan-joly]

Hi, I'm trying to cache the whole workspace to fetch it between jobs.
Unfortunately it seems like the local directory can not be cached

Using . doesn't work (it cache 22B)

- name: Cache build folder
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          key: cs-repo-${{ github.run_number }}-${{ github.run_attempt }}
          path: .

Using ${{ github.workspace }} doesn't work (it also cache 22B)

- name: Cache build folder
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          key: cs-repo-${{ github.run_number }}-${{ github.run_attempt }}
          path: ${{ github.workspace }}

the only solution I found which work is to list all the files/directory

- name: Cache build folder
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          key: cs-repo-${{ github.run_number }}-${{ github.run_attempt }}
          path: |
              file1
              file2
              dir1
              dir2

[aparna-ravindra]

Thank you for the report. I was able to reproduce this. From the first look, it appears that there is a bug while converting the cache paths to relative paths for compression in the toolkit. I will debug the cause and get back.

Contribution are welcome as this will mostly require changes in actions/toolkit and actions/cache.

[erwan-joly]

It doesn't seems to be fixed for some reason :/
I've tested with actions/[email protected] both the two version with . and env variable and it still cache 22B @pdotl

[lvpx]

Hi @erwan-joly , the above version is for actions/cache npm module and not for the actions/cache action. We are yet to merge toolkit changes into the actions/cache. Once done, you should be able to test and use the same. I'll post an update here once done.

[lvpx]

@erwan-joly ,please test now with the latest version of actions/cache using actions/cache@v3.

[erwan-joly]

@pdotl I confirm it's now fixed 💯

[khelkun]

One should also consider this issue if he has troubles with github.worspace context and cache action as I did:

github.workspace === /home/runner/work/testContainers/testContainers
GITHUB_WORKSPACE === /__w/testContainers/testContainers
runner.workspace === /home/runner/work/testContainers
RUNNER_WORKSPACE === /__w/testContainers

My build job relies on ${{ github.workspace }} to output its result and I want to cache this result and restore it in my publish job. Here is how I made this works:

name: Build

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - '*'
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: mstorsjo/llvm-mingw:latest
    steps:
      - name: build stuff
        run: |
          echo "GITHUB_WORKSPACE=$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
          echo "github.workspace=${{ github.workspace }}"
          # echo curent working dir which is $GITHUB_WORKSPACE and not ${{ github.workspace }}.
          echo "current working dir:"
          pwd

          # cd to build dir.
          # for the example, creates a my_build_dir and cd to it.
          cd my_build_dir

          # run build command that generates the buil result in ${{ github.workspace }}/output.
          # for the example, creates the output dir and touch a result.out file in it.
          mkdir -p ${{ github.workspace }}/output
          touch ${{ github.workspace }}/output/result.out

          # back to $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
          cd ..
          cp -r ${{ github.workspace }}/output $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
          ls -l $GITHUB_WORKSPACE

      - name: Cache build output
        id: cache-save-build-ouput
        uses: actions/cache/save@v3
        with:
          path: |
            ./output
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-build-output-run_${{ github.run_id }}
          enableCrossOsArchive: true


  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    image: mstorsjo/llvm-mingw:latest
    needs: build
    steps:
      - name: Restore build ouput cache
        uses: actions/cache/restore@v3
        id: cache-restore-build-ouput
        with:
          path: |
            ./output
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-build-output-run_${{ github.run_id }}
          enableCrossOsArchive: true
          fail-on-cache-miss: true

      - name: archive
        run: |
          echo "GITHUB_WORKSPACE=$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
          echo "github.workspace=${{ github.workspace }}"
          # echo curent working dir which is $GITHUB_WORKSPACE and not ${{ github.workspace }}.
          echo "current working dir:"
          pwd

          echo "restored cache output dir:"
          ls -l ./ouput          

Note that restoring a cache in a container image different from the one that saved the cache may fail because the comrpession tool (tar) may be different. For example using image: alpine:latest container in my publish job fails this way:

/bin/tar: unrecognized option: P

On the other hand, using no container on the my publish job fails this way:

##[debug]No matching cache found for cache key 'Linux-build-output-run_4252492458', version '864e6dbc1f60e04c96ce9a7e3cc1dc27a256109377aae3de699034043992ea42 and scope refs/tags/v4.2.1-full. There exist one or more cache(s) with similar key but they have different version or scope. See more info on cache matching here: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/caching-dependencies-to-speed-up-workflows#matching-a-cache-key 
##[debug]Other caches with similar key:
##[debug]Cache Key: Linux-build-output-run_4252492[45](https://github.com/khelkun/ffmpeg-wos-arm64-build/actions/runs/4252492458/jobs/7396194685#step:2:46)8, Cache Version: ea8764569ab4d245f2db7a85367253cd303504ee4289[46](https://github.com/khelkun/ffmpeg-wos-arm64-build/actions/runs/4252492458/jobs/7396194685#step:2:47)df7d21a697b0c7812f, Cache Scope: refs/tags/v4.2.1-full, Cache Created: 2023-02-23T12:16:30.7133333Z
##[debug]Failed to delete archive: Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, unlink ''
Error: Failed to restore cache entry. Exiting as fail-on-cache-miss is set. Input key: Linux-build-output-run_4252492458

And using the enableCrossOsArchive: true in the actions/cache/restore@v3 does not fix it.