Runner Scale Sets mode "git command not found." - Software installed on the runner image

[newdeal123]

hello. we are migrations self-hosted actions runner controller to runner scale sets mode.
However, during the migration operation, we found that steps using plugins such as "tj-actions/changed-files" and "dorny/paths-filter" fail.
After debugging, it was confirmed that git command was not installed by default in the runner image used in the runner scale set mode. (After installing git command, it worked normally. sudo apt update && sudo apt install git )
Maybe someone who can perform that process in the initcontainer process,
This will be inconvenient for many users migrating to the runner scale set mode. I was wondering if you had any intentions and if you have any plans to make it available in the base image based on the git command.

summerwind runner dockerfile
github self-hosted runner dockerfile

+) we are using latest version (v0.5.0) using gha-runner-scale-set Helm Chart.

[juicemia]

We're seeing the same issue running CI on our GKE RunnerSet using the checkout action. I get that a line has to be drawn somewhere on what software is supported out of the box in the runner images but it seems like the checkout action is a core feature of Github Actions. If there's any clear docs on how to bundle our own images for the RunnerSet pods to run can someone link them? I haven't found any.

[karolvargas]

Having same issue as well. Would be nice to at least have git cli installed. Making migrating from legacy to ARC more of a pain

[Link-]

The runner image ships only with the dependencies needed for the runner binaries function nothing else. At the moment, the plan is to publish a slim image that you can build on top of. We do not intend to add any 3rd party tools to the runner image, that will be the responsibility of end users.

You can review our documentation here: https://docs.github.com/en/actions/hosting-your-own-runners/managing-self-hosted-runners-with-actions-runner-controller/about-actions-runner-controller#software-installed-in-the-arc-runner-image

[Nuru]

@Link- Saying you can run your own runner image ignores the entire ecosystem of public reusable workflows, which have to be able to run on standard official GitHub images. I'm not saying you have to add every package that is on the GitHub hosted image, but come on, not including git in a GitHub image is kind of ridiculous.

[GeunSam2]

@Link- Is there any update about this discussion?
We recently faced 'runner version deprecated' because we hosted our own runner image.
If base image include git command, we don't need custom runner image.
I can't understand why 'github' action runner image don't have git cli.

[qventus-azepeda]

I also can't understand why 'github' action runner image don't have git cli. This is nuts!

[tanlda]

Yes, after hours of struggling, that line 1: git: command not found hit my face like nothings else.

[maeghan-porter]

I just encountered the exact same problem while upgrading as well and I'm pretty baffled by there not being git installed on a github action runner image...

[duchuyvp]

Hi, I'm not sure my problem related to this topic or not but I can run git clone command in container in runner image.

Here's command I try to run:

docker run --rm alpine sh -c "apk add git && git clone https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller.git"

and here is output:

fetch https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/main/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
fetch https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/community/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz
(1/13) Installing ca-certificates (20240705-r0)
(2/13) Installing brotli-libs (1.1.0-r2)
(3/13) Installing c-ares (1.28.1-r0)
(4/13) Installing libunistring (1.2-r0)
(5/13) Installing libidn2 (2.3.7-r0)
(6/13) Installing nghttp2-libs (1.62.1-r0)
(7/13) Installing libpsl (0.21.5-r1)
(8/13) Installing zstd-libs (1.5.6-r0)
(9/13) Installing libcurl (8.9.0-r0)
(10/13) Installing libexpat (2.6.2-r0)
(11/13) Installing pcre2 (10.43-r0)
(12/13) Installing git (2.45.2-r0)
(13/13) Installing git-init-template (2.45.2-r0)
Executing busybox-1.36.1-r29.trigger
Executing ca-certificates-20240705-r0.trigger
OK: 20 MiB in 27 packages
Cloning into 'actions-runner-controller'...
fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller.git/': SSL connection timeout

Can anyone help me with this?

[lifeofmoo]

This issue is literally me the only thing stopping me moving from the legacy version to ARC...

I have other issues but they're not show stoppers like this. Not having git cli is incredulous.

[lifeofmoo]

Oh my days, The GitHub gods are shining on us. I randomly picked this back up after nearly 2 months and was resigned to having to build/maintain my own runner. However I thought i'd just redeploy everything one last time to confirm in the issue (git cli missing) was still present but noticed my workflow was green 💯

A bit of digging around confirms the latest runner actually does in fact contain the git cli -

https://github.com/actions/runner/releases/tag/v2.320.0

THANK you for doing this guys - I know as a community we moan but this is genuinely very much appreciated 🥇

[luc122c]

Wow, thank you for noticing! Looks like it was added here actions/runner#3056