actions / actions/runner

Github action runner svc start not working on MacOS Monterey

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#1,959 13 comments 12 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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bug needs-investigation Runner Bug
Dominant language
C#
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Describe the bug

Trying to set up a self-hosted github actions runner as a service so it launches on startup. Currently am getting

starting actions.runner.X
Load failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootstrap` as root for richer errors.
status actions.runner.X:
/Users/ec2-user/Library/LaunchAgents/actions.runner.X.plist
Stopped

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. Configure action runner with ./config.sh
  2. Install the service with ./svc.sh install (Successful)
  3. Start the service with ./svc.sh start

Expected behavior
Service starts and can be seen running:
launchctl list | grep X

Runner Version and Platform

Version of your runner?
Latest 2.293

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

What's not working?

Service Starting

Workaround:

I can get the runner started by running:
sudo chown root:wheel /Users/ec2-user/Library/LaunchAgents/actions.runner.X
sudo launchctl bootstrap system ~/Library/LaunchAgents/actions.runner.c3-e-c3vsce.GAR-5.plist
Though this is installing the runner in the system domain instead of the user, and the service does not start on restart.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with ./svc.sh install and ./svc.sh start, then inspect the generated /Users/ec2-user/Library/LaunchAgents/actions.runner.X.plist and the launchctl status output. Reproduce on macOS Monterey with runner 2.293, using the reported bootstrap command for comparison. Done means the service starts in the intended user domain and launches after restart.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
github-actions, macos
Domain
ci-cd, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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