runner: Error: Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file

This particular issue seems to be back

We can see the issue started appearing again.

I confirm that there are multiple users experiencing this issue again https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/26321#discussioncomment-3813182

All workflows are broken and not running, github should treat this as a major incident and update their status page: https://www.githubstatus.com/

we are looking at this now…

We are currently experiencing this

##[debug]Starting: Set up job
Current runner version: '2.297.0'
Operating System
Runner Image
Runner Image Provisioner
GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
Secret source: Actions
##[debug]Primary repository: org/proj
Prepare workflow directory
##[debug]Creating pipeline directory: '/home/runner/work/proj'
##[debug]Creating workspace directory: '/home/runner/work/proj'
##[debug]Update context data
##[debug]Evaluating job-level environment variables
##[debug]Evaluating job container
##[debug]Evaluating job service containers
##[debug]Evaluating job defaults
Prepare all required actions
Getting action download info
Download action repository 'actions/checkout@v3' (SHA:2541b1294d2704b0964813337f33b291d3f8596b)
##[debug]Download 'https://api.github.com/repos/actions/checkout/tarball/2541b1294d2704b0964813337f33b291d3f8596b' to '/home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_52482ad0-4f93-4a60-aeca-7f85e8ecda10/1c831ab4-546d-4df1-ad0d-10723147d72f.tar.gz'
Error: Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file: /home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_52482ad0-4f93-4a60-aeca-7f85e8ecda10/1c831ab4-546d-4df1-ad0d-10723147d72f.tar.gz. return code: 2.
##[debug]System.NotSupportedException: Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file: /home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_52482ad0-4f93-4a60-aeca-7f85e8ecda10/1c831ab4-546d-4df1-ad0d-10723147d72f.tar.gz. return code: 2.
##[debug]   at GitHub.Runner.Worker.ActionManager.DownloadRepositoryActionAsync(IExecutionContext executionContext, ActionDownloadInfo downloadInfo, String destDirectory)
##[debug]   at GitHub.Runner.Worker.ActionManager.DownloadRepositoryActionAsync(IExecutionContext executionContext, ActionDownloadInfo downloadInfo)
##[debug]   at GitHub.Runner.Worker.ActionManager.PrepareActionsRecursiveAsync(IExecutionContext executionContext, PrepareActionsState state, IEnumerable`1 actions, Int32 depth, Guid parentStepId)
##[debug]   at GitHub.Runner.Worker.ActionManager.PrepareActionsAsync(IExecutionContext executionContext, IEnumerable`1 steps, Guid rootStepId)
##[debug]   at GitHub.Runner.Worker.JobExtension.InitializeJob(IExecutionContext jobContext, AgentJobRequestMessage message)
##[debug]Finishing: Set up job

Yes, I agree with @j-nix : the same error come back on my workflow today.

It seems that this issue has been fixed now. My latest job ran past the failure it halted at earlier.

• Before: FAILED 🔴
• Now: PASSED 🟢

actions/setup-node@v3 was not downloaded properly due to a server side bug. We applied a server side fix and this should be good now base on our telemetry. Sorry for the inconvenice. 🙇

The incident has been resolved. Thank you.

@levrik I had the same issue with actions/cache , it might not be something specific to that action

2022-06-02T07:31:37.9410277Z Requested labels: ubuntu-latest
2022-06-02T07:31:37.9410326Z Job defined at: ***
2022-06-02T07:31:37.9410360Z Waiting for a runner to pick up this job...
2022-06-02T07:31:38.4804160Z Job is waiting for a hosted runner to come online.
2022-06-02T07:31:41.7120304Z Job is about to start running on the hosted runner: GitHub Actions 2 (hosted)
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3932730Z Current runner version: '2.291.1'
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3957556Z ##[group]Operating System
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3958149Z Ubuntu
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3958384Z 20.04.4
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3958661Z LTS
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3958942Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3959326Z ##[group]Virtual Environment
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3959720Z Environment: ubuntu-20.04
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3960011Z Version: 20220515.1
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3960524Z Included Software: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/blob/ubuntu20/20220515.1/images/linux/Ubuntu2004-Readme.md
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3961171Z Image Release: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/releases/tag/ubuntu20%2F20220515.1
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3961659Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3962014Z ##[group]Virtual Environment Provisioner
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3962371Z 1.0.0.0-main-20220516-1
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3962633Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3963338Z ##[group]GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3963864Z Checks: write
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3964324Z Contents: read
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3964909Z Issues: read
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3965215Z Metadata: read
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3965482Z PullRequests: write
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3965797Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3969324Z Secret source: Actions
2022-06-02T07:31:45.3969865Z Prepare workflow directory
2022-06-02T07:31:45.4828344Z Prepare all required actions
2022-06-02T07:31:45.5012540Z Getting action download info
2022-06-02T07:31:45.7359967Z Download action repository 'actions/checkout@v2' (SHA:7884fcad6b5d53d10323aee724dc68d8b9096a2e)
2022-06-02T07:31:46.3806597Z Download action repository 'actions/cache@v2' (SHA:937d24475381cd9c75ae6db12cb4e79714b926ed)
2022-06-02T07:31:46.7458476Z ##[error]Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file: /home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_cf1ffd67-1857-4283-a39e-49599b0ee39d/06579d60-f1f2-4519-945b-48dd8cee9f01.tar.gz. return code: 2.

yup its back

And it’s back…

Again for us. Nothing is working.

@TingluoHuang Still happening: https://github.com/upptime/upptime/actions/runs/2747365664

Seems like there is an issue with downloads from GitHub now causing this. Not necessarily related to this runner, but no relevant issues show up on the status page yet

##[debug]Download 'https://api.github.com/repos/actions/checkout/tarball/7884fcad6b5d53d10323aee724dc68d8b9096a2e' to '/home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_a5[50](https://github.com/repo/runs/6704514689?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:54)142d-0c74-440a-acaf-e526af6ec97d/1fa4ba8b-28e8-4e94-b98c-36df9a67a84d.tar.gz'
##[debug]Unwrap 'actions-checkout-7884fca' to '/home/runner/work/_actions/actions/checkout/v2'
##[debug]Archive '/home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_a550142d-0c74-440a-acaf-e526af6ec97d/1fa4ba8b-28e8-4e94-b98c-36df9a67a84d.tar.gz' has been unzipped into '/home/runner/work/_actions/actions/checkout/v2'.
Download action repository 'cypress-io/github-action@v2' (SHA:f5bea478b80a774068179089247f13d60abc5010)
##[debug]Download 'https://api.github.com/repos/cypress-io/github-action/tarball/f5bea478b80a774068179089247f13d60abc5010' to '/home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_5fbb9635-be9b-4a7b-b73c-0ebccfec2765/58b39741-0df7-42c0-a724-c399f0b53d[52](https://github.com/repo/runs/6704514689?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:56).tar.gz'
Error: Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file: /home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_5fbb9635-be9b-4a7b-b73c-0ebccfec2765/58b39741-0df7-42c0-a724-c399f0b[53](https://github.com/repo/runs/6704514689?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:57)d52.tar.gz. return code: 2.
##[debug]System.NotSupportedException: Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file: /home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_5fbb9635-be9b-4a7b-b73c-0ebccfec2765/58b39741-0df7-42c0-a724-c399f0b53d52.tar.gz. return code: 2.

Tracked on https://www.githubstatus.com/incidents/76xp2jd3px64 now.

@thboop We experience this issue since a few minutes 😕

@boegel We’re on actions/cache@3 already and are still hit by this.

Maybe jumping from v2 to v3 invalidates the cache, and then you’re essentially just working around the problem?

Hey folks,

A server side bug caused this issue, we’ve since mitigated the problem, please let us know if you see it again.

Thank you for your patience while we addressed it and sorry for the trouble it may have caused you

fails for me on about 30% of matrix jobs

I’ve been seeing on and off starting today.

Didn’t even make it to the first line of code 😄

Same error. Just when I need workflows, everything hinders me.

Our workflow is running again - maybe someone cleaned up the cache?

I can confirm that GitHub Actions 2 seems to always fail. Succeeding runs were on GitHub Actions 5 for me.

Well, here we go again.

@fabiofdsantos we clean up the bad cache, things should be back to normal.

@thboop Just got this error as well - 5 times in a row. The log looks like this:

Current runner version: '2.294.0'
Operating System
Virtual Environment
Virtual Environment Provisioner
GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
Secret source: Actions
Prepare workflow directory
Prepare all required actions
Getting action download info
Download action repository 'actions/checkout@v3' (SHA:[2](https://github.com/discoveryinc-ds/pergola-gql-rest-router/runs/7308685841?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:2)541b1294d2704b09[6](https://github.com/discoveryinc-ds/pergola-gql-rest-router/runs/7308685841?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:7)48[13](https://github.com/discoveryinc-ds/pergola-gql-rest-router/runs/7308685841?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:16)337f33b291d3f8596b)
Download action repository 'actions/setup-node@v3' (SHA:5b949b50c3461bbcd5a540b150c368[27](https://github.com/discoveryinc-ds/pergola-gql-rest-router/runs/7308685841?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:31)8160234a)
Error: Can't use 'tar -xzf' extract archive file: /home/runner/work/_actions/_temp_0cf9b0a3-10f2-46b3-81[32](https://github.com/discoveryinc-ds/pergola-gql-rest-router/runs/7308685841?check_suite_focus=true#step:1:36)-27faac882c0e/8f805591-5395-496d-8369-581d68f44808.tar.gz. return code: 2.

My failing and succeeding run differ in that the failing run ran on Github Actions 2 (hosted) while the succeeding one ran on Hosted Agent (hosted)

Successful run:

2022-06-02T08:04:16.7646023Z Requested labels: ubuntu-latest
2022-06-02T08:04:16.7646082Z Job defined at: ***
2022-06-02T08:04:16.7646107Z Waiting for a runner to pick up this job...
2022-06-02T08:04:17.2154105Z Job is waiting for a hosted runner to come online.
2022-06-02T08:04:21.3465203Z Job is about to start running on the hosted runner: Hosted Agent (hosted)
2022-06-02T08:04:24.8974587Z Current runner version: '2.291.1'
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9001536Z ##[group]Operating System
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9002087Z Ubuntu
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9002364Z 20.04.4
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9002750Z LTS
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9003065Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9003431Z ##[group]Virtual Environment
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9003829Z Environment: ubuntu-20.04
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9004218Z Version: 20220515.1
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9004721Z Included Software: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/blob/ubuntu20/20220515.1/images/linux/Ubuntu2004-Readme.md
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9005424Z Image Release: https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/releases/tag/ubuntu20%2F20220515.1
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9005902Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9006302Z ##[group]Virtual Environment Provisioner
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9006694Z 1.0.0.0-main-20220516-1
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9007033Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9007734Z ##[group]GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9008378Z Checks: write
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9008848Z Contents: read
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9009258Z Issues: read
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9009595Z Metadata: read
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9009954Z PullRequests: write
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9010250Z ##[endgroup]
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9013851Z Secret source: Actions
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9014370Z Prepare workflow directory
2022-06-02T08:04:24.9848513Z Prepare all required actions
2022-06-02T08:04:25.0042811Z Getting action download info
2022-06-02T08:04:25.3987128Z Download action repository 'actions/checkout@v2' (SHA:7884fcad6b5d53d10323aee724dc68d8b9096a2e)
2022-06-02T08:04:25.7042374Z Download action repository 'actions/cache@v2' (SHA:937d24475381cd9c75ae6db12cb4e79714b926ed)

@claudesky Then just coincidence that that first log I saw here was failing on the exact same action. Still weird that the workflows using the Cypress action are the only ones failing for us… at least so far.