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chore(ci): bound CI's apt steps and run them again when they stall - #580
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Twice the browser lane sat in apt (Playwright's install --with-deps) until the job's 20-minute timeout, its last line a mirror's InRelease, and the Website build waited in its ffmpeg install the same way. scripts/ci-apt-fail-fast.sh writes an apt.conf.d drop-in (Acquire::Retries 5, http/https Timeout 30 s) before each CI apt call: in ci-browser.sh, pages.yml and remote-bundles.yml.
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📝 SummarySummary by CodeRabbit
WalkthroughA bounded-retry script now runs commands with per-attempt time limits and up to three attempts. The Pages, remote-bundles, and CI browser workflows use it for package dependency installation. ChangesCI installation retries
Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes Change: Other 🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5✅ Passed checks (5 passed)
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Review comments at @.github/workflows/remote-bundles.yml:
- Line 98: Update the container setup command in the remote-bundles workflow so
it writes APT retry and HTTP/HTTPS timeout settings inside the Debian container
before running apt-get update; the host-side scripts/ci-apt-fail-fast.sh does
not configure the container.
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The apt.conf.d drop-in did not stop the hang it was for. In ubuntu:24.04, a mirror that accepts and never answers (http) or never finishes TLS (https) is already given up by apt's own timers: 247 s and 127 s without the drop-in, 391 s and 211 s with it, since its 30 s Timeout is apt's default and its Retries only add attempts. The CI hang went past those timers for 20 minutes. scripts/ci-bounded-retry.sh gives each attempt a wall-clock limit, ends it with everything it started, and runs it again, three times at most: Playwright's install-deps (300 s) in ci-browser.sh, then the browser download as before; ffmpeg in pages.yml (600 s); openssh-server in remote-bundles.yml (300 s).
devswha
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Inline comments:
Review comments at @scripts/ci-bounded-retry.sh:
- Line 10: Update the call sites of ci-bounded-retry.sh for APT installs and
Playwright install-deps so sudo runs the timeout wrapper itself as root, and
remove nested sudo from the wrapped APT commands. Keep the existing retry limits
and install arguments unchanged.
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timeout ran as the runner user while sudo ran apt-get as root, so its --kill-after SIGKILL was not allowed to reach apt, and an apt that outlived SIGTERM would keep the lock for the next attempt. Run the wrapper itself under sudo at each apt call site; ci-browser.sh passes bun's absolute path because sudo resets PATH.
devswha
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Independent review (merge-own lane), of the bounded-retry head (c36e3c3, updated with main to 0de0040, plus my 5cf8be7).
Classification: CI reliability fix. It merges because CI's apt steps have hung on a stalled Ubuntu mirror until the 20-minute job timeout. That happened twice on #575 today (last line Get:6 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease), and also in the Website build. A required check that hangs blocks every merge.
What I checked:
scripts/ci-bounded-retry.shgives each attempttimeout --kill-after=15 <limit>and makes at most 3 attempts. GNU timeout puts the command in its own process group and signals the whole group, so thesudo apt-getit started is stopped too, not left holding the apt lock.set -uo pipefailwithout-eis deliberate: the loop has to see the failure.- Run locally:
ci-bounded-retry.sh 5 trueexits 0 on the first try.... 5 falsefails three times and exits 1.... 1 bash -c 'sleep 41 & wait'exits 1 after 3 s with nosleep 41left behind.bash -npasses on both scripts. ci-browser.sh: underCI,install-deps chromium(apt, now bounded and retried) and theninstall chromium(the browser download) do whatinstall --with-depsdid. WithoutCI, a PC runs exactly what it ran before.- Note (not blocking): an attempt that times out during dpkg's install phase, rather than a download, could leave dpkg interrupted for the next attempt. The observed hangs were all fetches.
What CI exercised on this PR: the Integration lane runs ci-browser.sh, and the Remote PC bundles ssh job runs the wrapped openssh install. The workflow file is in that workflow's paths, and ssh passed. pages.yml runs only on a push to main or by hand, so its wrapped ffmpeg step is first exercised by the merge itself.
CodeRabbit raised two threads. One was valid: an unprivileged timeout cannot SIGKILL the root apt-get that sudo starts. I fixed it in 5cf8be7, which runs the wrapper itself under sudo at each call site (bun's absolute path in ci-browser.sh). The other referred to the dropped drop-in helper and to container apt that never hung; I declined it with a reason. Both threads are resolved. Fast checks, Integration and browser, and ssh are green on 5cf8be7. No CHANGELOG entry: CI only.
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Change
CI's apt calls sat on an Ubuntu mirror until the job's own timeout. Twice today the browser lane hung in Playwright's
install --with-deps(scripts/ci-browser.sh:6, which runs apt). The last line wasGet:6 https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease [126 kB]at 20:07:07, and the job was cancelled at its 20-minute limit at 20:26 (job 112991466393). The Website build (pages.yml,apt-get install ffmpeg) has sat in its apt step the same way (run 37674971343, still in progress after more than an hour).The first version of this PR wrote an
apt.conf.ddrop-in (Acquire::Retries "5",Acquire::http(s)::Timeout "30"). Measured inubuntu:24.04, it would not have stopped this hang. apt's own timers already give up on a mirror that accepts and never answers:30 s is apt's default timeout, so the drop-in only added attempts. The CI hang outlived apt's timers (a trickle, or a stall they do not see), so no apt setting bounds it.
So each apt step now gets a wall-clock limit instead.
scripts/ci-bounded-retry.sh <seconds> <command…>runs the command undertimeout --kill-after=15. An attempt that fails or runs past the limit is ended together with everything it started (timeoutsignals its whole process group), and the command runs again, three times at most:ci-browser.sh(CI only): Playwright'sinstall-deps chromium(the apt part) gets 300 s. Theninstall chromiumdownloads the browser as before. In a passing run the whole--with-depsinstall takes about 3.5 min.pages.yml: the ffmpegapt-get update && installgets 600 s (about 5 min in a passing run).remote-bundles.yml(sshjob): the openssh-server install gets 300 s.Packages a cut-off attempt already downloaded stay in apt's cache, so the next attempt continues from there.
Validation
pages.ymlstep, verbatim, inubuntu:24.04on this PC's slow mirror: attempt 1 ran past 600 s and was cut off after 146 packages were downloaded. Attempt 2 finished,ffmpeg -versionworks, anddpkg --auditis clean.apt-config dumpchecked the earlier drop-in, which is gone now.ci-browser.shwith the boundedinstall-deps.No CHANGELOG entry: CI only.