Checkout V3 fails in self-hosted runner on ubuntu VM with git permissions

[stan-spotts]

Brand new VM set up and having this issue on checkout action. Log shows this:

Run actions/checkout@v3
  with:
    submodules: true
    lfs: false
    repository: MyOrg/MyRepo
    token: ***
    ssh-strict: true
    persist-credentials: true
    clean: true
    sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
    fetch-depth: 1
    fetch-tags: false
    set-safe-directory: true
  env:
    NPM_CONFIG_LEGACY_PEER_DEPS: true
Syncing repository: MyOrg/MyRepo
Getting Git version info
  Working directory is '/home/githubrunner/actions-runner/_work/myrepo/myrepo'
  /usr/bin/git version
  git version [2](https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo/actions/runs/6945216503/job/18894061759#step:3:2).25.1
Temporarily overriding HOME='/home/githubrunner/actions-runner/_work/_temp/[3](https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo/actions/runs/6945216503/job/18894061759#step:3:3)f99179c-5928-[4](https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo/actions/runs/6945216503/job/18894061759#step:3:4)117-ad82-[5](https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo/actions/runs/6945216503/job/18894061759#step:3:5)1[8](https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo/actions/runs/6945216503/job/18894061759#step:3:8)322f[9](https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo/actions/runs/6945216503/job/18894061759#step:3:9)bca1' before making global git config changes
Adding repository directory to the temporary git global config as a safe directory
/usr/bin/git config --global --add safe.directory /home/githubrunner/actions-runner/_work/MyRepo/MyRepo
/usr/bin/git config --local --get remote.origin.url
https://github.com/MyOrg/MyRepo
Removing previously created refs, to avoid conflicts
  /usr/bin/git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name --verify --quiet HEAD
  refs/heads/development
  /usr/bin/git checkout --detach
  Error: fatal: Unable to create '/home/githubrunner/actions-runner/_work/MyRepo/MyRepo/.git/index.lock': Permission denied
  Warning: Unable to prepare the existing repository. The repository will be recreated instead.
  Deleting the contents of '/home/githubrunner/actions-runner/_work/MyRepo/MyRepo'
  Error: File was unable to be removed Error: EACCES: permission denied, unlink '/home/githubrunner/actions-runner/_work/MyRepo/MyRepo/.eslintrc.cjs'

looking in the _work/MyRepo/MyRepo folder, all is owned by root (thought it would be by githubrunner account).

drwxrwxr-x   8 root         root            4096 Nov 21 14:24 .
drwxrwxr-x   3 githubrunner githubrunner    4096 Nov 21 14:23 ..
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root             519 Nov 21 14:23 .eslintrc.cjs
drwxrwxr-x   8 root         root            4096 Nov 21 14:23 .git
drwxrwxr-x   3 root         root            4096 Nov 21 14:23 .github
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root             253 Nov 21 14:23 .gitignore
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root              17 Nov 21 14:23 README.md
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root         2024283 Nov 21 14:23 dashboard-img.svg
drwxr-xr-x   3 root         root            4096 Nov 21 14:24 dist
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root             970 Nov 21 14:23 index.html
drwxr-xr-x 225 root         root           12288 Nov 21 14:23 node_modules
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root          159166 Nov 21 14:23 package-lock.json
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root            1600 Nov 21 14:23 package.json
drwxrwxr-x   2 root         root            4096 Nov 21 14:23 public
drwxrwxr-x  11 root         root            4096 Nov 21 14:23 src
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root             670 Nov 21 14:23 tsconfig.json
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root             213 Nov 21 14:23 tsconfig.node.json
-rw-rw-r--   1 root         root             439 Nov 21 14:23 vite.config.ts

Is there some additional group setting or permissions needed somewhere prior to executing a workflow for checkout action to properly function?

[germa89]

Probably related to: #1014

[fredriknilson]

I am using v4 and have the same problem. I'm running my self-hosted runner on Debian 12. If I delete the directory it works again, but will fail next time.

Run actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    lfs: true
    repository: ***/***
    token: ***
    ssh-strict: true
    persist-credentials: true
    clean: true
    sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
    fetch-depth: 1
    fetch-tags: false
    show-progress: true
    submodules: false
    set-safe-directory: true
  env:
    ***
  
Syncing repository: ***/***
Getting Git version info
  Working directory is '/***/actions-runner/_work/***/***'
  /usr/bin/git version
  git version 2.34.1
  /usr/bin/git lfs version
  git-lfs/3.0.2 (GitHub; linux amd64; go 1.18.1)
Temporarily overriding HOME='/***/actions-runner/_work/_temp/40a049fd-b807-4e2a-a400-f57595fe1f53' before making global git config changes
Adding repository directory to the temporary git global config as a safe directory
/usr/bin/git config --global --add safe.directory /***/actions-runner/_work/***/***
/usr/bin/git config --local --get remote.origin.url
https://github.com/***/***
Removing previously created refs, to avoid conflicts
  /usr/bin/git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name --verify --quiet HEAD
  refs/heads/githubactions
  /usr/bin/git checkout --detach
  Error: fatal: Unable to create '/***/actions-runner/_work/***/***/.git/index.lock': Permission denied
  Warning: Unable to prepare the existing repository. The repository will be recreated instead.
  Deleting the contents of '/***/actions-runner/_work/***/***'
  Error: File was unable to be removed Error: EACCES: permission denied, unlink '/***/actions-runner/_work/***/***/.git/FETCH_HEAD'

  total 68
drwxr-xr-x  6 github-runner github-runner 4096 Dec  4 14:48 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 github-runner github-runner 4096 Dec  4 14:47 ..
drwxr-xr-x 19 root          root          4096 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root           350 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root           864 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root          4718 Dec  4 14:48 ***
drwxr-xr-x  5 root          root          4096 Dec  5 07:59 ***
drwxr-xr-x  8 root          root          4096 Dec  5 08:00 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root           202 Dec  4 14:48 ***
drwxr-xr-x  3 root          root          4096 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root          9751 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root          root            72 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root          root           458 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root           373 Dec  4 14:48 ***
-rw-r--r--  1 root          root             0 Dec  4 14:48 ***