ACTIONS_RUNNER_HOOK_JOB_COMPLETED not able to remove workspace

[rzamponiAtIgt]

Describe the bug

Using a simple workflow which just checks out the repository

name: JCO

on:
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: [self-hosted, windows]
    steps: 
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2

a simple powershell script

$time_to_wait = 30
Write-Output "Wait '${time_to_wait}' seconds for the file system to become unlocked."
Start-Sleep -Seconds $time_to_wait
Remove-Item "${env:GITHUB_WORKSPACE}" -Recurse -WhatIf
Remove-Item "${env:RUNNER_WORKSPACE}" -Recurse -WhatIf

called with ACTIONS_RUNNER_HOOK_JOB_COMPLETED is not able to remove neither GITHUB_WORKSPACE nor RUNNER_WORKSPACE.

Runner Version and Platform

Version of your runner?

2.296.2

OS of the machine running the runner? OSX/Windows/Linux/...

Windows

What's not working?

From documentation I would expect to be able to wipeout the workspace at the end of the run but the Remove-Item command tells me, the directory is locked.

Job Log Output

A job completed hook has been configured by the self-hosted runner administrator
Run '<path to>\sample_cleanup.ps1'
shell: C:\windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.EXE -command ". '{0}'"
Wait '30' seconds for the file system to become unlocked.
Remove-Item : Cannot remove the item at 'C:\github_work\<repository name>\<repository name>'
because it is in use.
At <path to>\sample_cleanup.ps1:4 char:1

• Remove-Item "${env:GITHUB_WORKSPACE}" -Recurse -WhatIf

•   + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Remove-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand
  
  

Remove-Item : Cannot remove the item at 'C:\github_work\<repository name>' because it is in use.
At <path to>\sample_cleanup.ps1:5 char:1

• Remove-Item "${env:RUNNER_WORKSPACE}" -Recurse -WhatIf

•   + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Remove-Item], PSInvalidOperationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperation,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.RemoveItemCommand
  

Runner and Worker's Diagnostic Logs

[ruvceskistefan]

Hi @rzamponiAtIgt
Thanks for filling this issue! We will try to reproduce the bug, so I will get back to you as soon as I have some news.

[sesa529917]

Was the root cause of this ever discovered? I have the same issue on setup runner trying to clean out the working directory on windows with powershell.

[ivo-nussbaumer-sg]

I'm having the same issues.
Is there an update to this issue?

[chriscarpenter12]

I was having the same issue, but realized through some testing that the current the script is executed in is the GITHUB_WORKSPACE. It was enough to change to a different directory and then run the deletions. In my case I used the RUNNER_TEMP and went up to the parent directory. Once out of the working directory it was able to be deleted.

#!/usr/bin/env pwsh

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"

Write-Host "PWD: $($PWD)"

$temp = $env:RUNNER_TEMP
$work = (Get-Item -Path $temp).Parent.FullName

Write-Host "Work: $($work)"
Set-Location -Path $work
Write-Host "PWD: $($PWD)"

Remove-Item -Path "$($env:RUNNER_WORKSPACE)" -Recurse -Force
Get-Item -Path "$($env:RUNNER_WORKSPACE)" -ErrorAction Continue

This could be remedied with by updating the documentation with this specific use case. This seems like a common task for the completed hook.

[jamesc-skyward]

I'm also experiencing this. @chriscarpenter12's suggestion didn't work for me.

In my findings, it seems like it's the actual GITHUB_WORKSPACE directory that is in use. I can delete the contents of that folder and any sibling folders, but not the actual GITHUB_WORKSPACE folder.

[heathhenley]

I had the same problem on a local windows runner with powershell job completed hooks. The proposed solution does not work for me. I don't know much about powershell atm but as far as I can tell, I think it's related to this issue PowerShell/PowerShell#17149 - the paths in the solution above look like linux paths so maybe it's a difference in windows / linux behavior with Set-Location.

For me - the script is being started in one of the directories I want to remove (can check with $PWD) - even changing dirs with Set-Location - the powershell process running the script still has a handle to the directory it was originally started in (I used "handle.exe" from "sysinternals" https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/handle#installation to see what PID had the folder when delete failed - and it turned out to be the PID of the running script).

The solution that's working for me (which is why I think that it is related to PowerShell/PowerShell#17149 - is to call [System.IO.Directory]::SetCurrentDirectory($newDir) to change directory, as well as Set-Location, before trying to run the delete.

Here's a script that was playing with to figure out what was happening:

$dirToRemove = 'C:\path\to\dir\to\remove'
Write-Output "Originally in: $PWD"
Set-Location -Path 'c:\better\location'
Write-Output "CurrentDirectory:" ([System.IO.Directory]::GetCurrentDirectory())
[System.IO.Directory]::SetCurrentDirectory($PWD)
Write-Output "CurrentDirectory:" ([System.IO.Directory]::GetCurrentDirectory())
Write-Output "My PID: $PID"

if (Test-Path -Path $dirToRemove) {
    try {
        Remove-Item -Path $dirToRemove -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction Stop
        Write-Output "Directory removed successfully with Remove-Item"
    } catch {
        Write-Output "Remove-Item failed..."
        Write-Output $_
        # to see what pid has the file / folder still
        & "C:\Users\USER\Downloads\Handle\handle.exe" $dirToRemove
    }
} else {
    Write-Output "Directory doesn't exist."
}