self-hosted mac runner fails when Create additional symlinks

[deanjingshui]

Description:
I'm experiencing a permission error when using the setup-python GitHub Action. The error occurs when the action attempts to create additional symlinks, specifically for Python version 3.13.2. The error message is:

Create additional symlinks (Required for the UsePythonVersion Azure Pipelines task and the setup-python GitHub Action)
Error: ln: python313: Permission denied
Error: The process '/bin/bash' failed with exit code 1

The issue seems to be related to insufficient permissions for the runner user to create symlinks in the target directory. However, the log does not specify the exact path where the symlinks are being created.

I have checked the permissions of the target directory and ensured that the runner user has write access. However, the issue persists.
Could you please clarify what the default path is for creating these symlinks? Knowing this will help me check the permissions for that specific directory.

Action version:
v5

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• [✅] macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• [✅] Self-hosted

Tools version:

python 3.13

Repro steps:

jobs:
  build-and-upload:
    runs-on: my-darwin-runner
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Python Setup
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.13'

Expected behavior:
The action should successfully create symlinks without encountering permission errors.

Actual behavior:
the full log is:

Installed versions
Version 3.13 was not found in the local cache
Version 3.13 is available for downloading
Download from "https://github.com/actions/python-versions/releases/download/3.13.2-1314[9](https://github.com/lynx-infra/lynx-devtool/actions/runs/13539602101/job/37838858766#step:3:10)511920/python-3.13.2-darwin-arm64.tar.gz"
Extract downloaded archive
/usr/bin/tar xz -C /Users/runner/_work/_temp/b2fdb697-5abd-43ca-806c-101fcd6ddad1 -f /Users/runner/_work/_temp/7bfd7998-47cd-4957-bbd7-a73de281d037
Execute installation script
Check if Python hostedtoolcache folder exist...
Creating Python hostedtoolcache folder...
Install Python binaries from prebuilt package
installer: Package name is Python
installer: Installing at base path /
installer: The install was successful.
Create hostedtoolcach symlinks (Required for the backward compatibility)
Create Python 3.13.2 folder
Create additional symlinks (Required for the UsePythonVersion Azure Pipelines task and the setup-python GitHub Action)
Error: ln: python313: Permission denied
Error: The process '/bin/bash' failed with exit code 1

[priyagupta108]

Hi @deanjingshui 👋,
Thank you for reporting this issue. We will investigate it and get back to you as soon as we have some feedback.

[priyagupta108]

Hi @deanjingshui,
We tried to reproduce the issue on our end but were unable to do so. It appears to be related to the configuration of your macOS self-hosted runner. Based on the error message, it seems the issue may be caused by insufficient permissions for the runner user. To resolve this, please follow these troubleshooting steps:

1. Ensure the directory /Users/runner/hostedtoolcache exists and has the correct permissions:

sudo mkdir -p /Users/runner/hostedtoolcache

sudo chown runner-user:runner-group /Users/runner/hostedtoolcache

2. Verify that the runner user has the necessary permissions to create symlinks in the /Users/runner/hostedtoolcache directory. You can check the current user and group that the runner belongs to by typing ls -l inside the runner's root directory.


For detailed guidance and further instructions on configuring setup-python with a macOS self-hosted runner, please refer to the documentation to ensure proper setup.

If the issue persists after following these steps, please let us know, and provide a reproducible link or additional logs with debug mode enabled. You can enable debug logging in GitHub Actions by following the instructions in the official documentation. This will help us investigate the issue further.