Re: [PATCH 1/1] Github Actions: cache util-linux tarball

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 7:38 PM David Timber <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> To minimise the chance of CI pipeline run failures, cache the util-linux
> tarball in Github Actions cache so that the tarball is not downloaded
> every time the CI is run.
>
> The connection to the CDN usually fail because:
>
>   - Cloud VMs usually have low IP reputation due to scraping activities
>   - Shared tenancy makes the connection unstable
>
> Signed-off-by: David Timber <[email protected]>
> ---
>  .github/workflows/c-cpp.yml | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/.github/workflows/c-cpp.yml b/.github/workflows/c-cpp.yml
> index d332f04..10975b7 100644
> --- a/.github/workflows/c-cpp.yml
> +++ b/.github/workflows/c-cpp.yml
> @@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ env:
>      1T 2T 3T 4T 6T 8T 16T 32T 44T 64T
>    TEST_MAGIC: dd01aeee-bab0-babe-babe-deadcafebeef
>
> +  UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL: util-linux-2.42.tar.xz
>    UTIL_LINUX_SRC: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.42/util-linux-2.42.tar.xz
>    # xfstests generic/740 equiv
>    FOREIGN_FS: |
> @@ -188,12 +189,29 @@ jobs:
>          sudo apt-get install -y linux-modules-extra-$(uname -r)
>          export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
>          export PATH=/usr/local/lib:$PATH
> +
> +    - name: Retrieve util-linux tarball from cache
> +      uses: actions/cache/restore@v6
> +      id: restore-util-linux-tarball
> +      with:
> +        path: ${{ env.UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL }}
> +        key: tarball-${{ env.UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL }}
> +    - name: Download util-linux tarball
> +      if: steps.restore-util-linux-tarball.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
> +      run: curl -L -o "$UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL" "$UTIL_LINUX_SRC"
> +    - name: Save util-linux tarball from cache
> +      uses: actions/cache/save@v6
> +      if: steps.restore-util-linux-tarball.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
> +      with:
> +        path: ${{ env.UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL }}
> +        key: tarball-${{ env.UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL }}
> +
There is one ordering problem. The cache and download steps run before
actions/checkout. Since the tarball is stored in the workspace,
actions/checkout may clean the workspace and delete it. The later tar
xf command will then fail because the tarball is gone. I am wondering
if this patch works as intended. Should we move the checkout step
before the cache steps?

Also, please add --fail to curl:

 curl --fail --location --retry 3 \
      -o "$UTIL_LINUX_TARBALL" "$UTIL_LINUX_SRC"

Without --fail, an HTTP error such as 404 or 500 may still produce a
successful curl exit status, and the error response could be saved and
cached as the tarball.

Thanks.