git-lfs cannot be found in a self-hosted runner

[fengwang]

Steps to reproduce

1. Install actions-runner-linux-x64-2.299.2 in Archlinux/Ubuntu1804, setup token and service
2. Create an action script in folder .github/workflows including

name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main", "workflow" ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main", "workflow" ]


jobs:

  build:
    runs-on: self-hosted

    steps:
      - name: cleanup
        run: |
          echo Will clean from here.
          echo $PATH
          whoami
          echo Clean is skipped.
          which git
          uname -a
          which apt
          echo $PATH

      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          lfs: true
          submodules: 'recursive'
          token: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN }}

        env:
          GIT_CURL_VERBOSE: '1'
          GIT_TRACE: '1'

I encountered build error with message

[build](https://github.xxxxxxxx.com/xxxxxx/XXXXXXXXXX/actions/runs/396556/jobs/633216#step:3:23)
Unable to locate executable file: git-lfs. Please verify either the file path exists or the file can be found within a directory specified by the PATH environment variable. Also check the file mode to verify the file is executable.

The cleanup step produces information like this:

Run echo Will clean from here.
Will clean from here.
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin
azureuser
Clean is skipped.
/usr/bin/git
Linux AIC-GithubActionsRunner 5.[1](https://github.xxx.com/xxxxxx/XXXXXXXX/actions/runs/396556/jobs/633216#step:2:1)5.0-1033-azure #40~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jan 24 [16](https://github.xxxxxxxx.com/xxxxxx/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/actions/runs/396556/jobs/633216#step:2:17):06:28 UTC 2023 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
/usr/bin/apt
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin

The checkout step produces error information

Run actions/checkout@v3
Syncing repository: XXXXXXXX/xxxxxxxx
Getting Git version info
  Working directory is '/home/azureuser/actions-runner/_work/XXXXXXXX/XXXXXXXX'
  /usr/bin/git version
  [20](https://github.xxxxxxxxxx.com/xxxxxx/XXXXXXXX/actions/runs/396556/jobs/633216#step:3:21):09:09.676113 git.c:439               trace: built-in: git version
  git version 2.25.1
  Error: Unable to locate executable file: git-lfs. Please verify either the file path exists or the file can be found within a directory specified by the PATH environment variable. Also check the file mode to verify the file is executable.

Note:

1. XXXXXXX and xxxxxx are sensitive information get masked
2. git-lfs is already installed and configured in the host system (ArchLinux/Ubuntu 1804)

[jbelien]

Same issue here (also on a self-hosted runner)!

[jbelien]

To avoid this issue, here is the step I've added before the actions/checkout:

- name: Initialize LFS
  run: |
    curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
    sudo apt-get install git-lfs

[jpr5]

To avoid this issue, here is the step I've added before the actions/checkout:

- name: Initialize LFS
  run: |
    curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
    sudo apt-get install git-lfs

How does that even work? The self-runner I'm using on Linux doesn't have sudo installed. And it appears stuff doesn't run as root so you can't call apt-get directly. How'd that work for you @jbelien ?

[rowanG077]

For those using nixos, I had to add git-lfs to extraPackages even though it is installed locally on the system:

  services.github-runners = {
    some_runner = {
      enable = true;
      url = ....;
      tokenFile = ...;
      replace = true;
      extraPackages = [ pkgs.git-lfs ];
    };
  };

[dminca]

To avoid this issue, here is the step I've added before the actions/checkout:

• name: Initialize LFS
  run: |
  curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
  sudo apt-get install git-lfs

This worked perfectly fine for me

Preparing to unpack .../git-lfs_3.7.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking git-lfs (3.7.1) ...
Setting up git-lfs (3.7.1) ...
Git LFS initialized.
Run actions/checkout@v6
  with:
    lfs: true
    repository: sampleorg/samplerepo-docs
    token: ***
    ssh-strict: true
    ssh-user: git
    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
Syncing repository: sampleorg/samplerepo-docs
Getting Git version info
Temporarily overriding HOME='/home/runner/_work/_temp/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000' 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/runner/_work/samplerepo-docs/samplerepo-docs
Deleting the contents of '/home/runner/_work/samplerepo-docs/samplerepo-docs'
Initializing the repository
Disabling automatic garbage collection
Setting up auth
/usr/bin/git lfs install --local
Updated Git hooks.
Git LFS initialized.
Fetching the repository
Determining the checkout info
Fetching LFS objects
/usr/bin/git sparse-checkout disable
/usr/bin/git config --local --unset-all extensions.worktreeConfig
Checking out the ref
/usr/bin/git log -1 --format=%H
efdbee09cea6d80a2588170df3b286eeea691e10

[sergii-auctane]

This also works:

    steps:
      - name: Install LFS
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git-lfs   

But this should solve it for everyone: actions/runner#4259