Inconsistent value for `runner.temp` when running in a container

Describe the bug

It appears https://github.com/actions/runner/pull/1762 only partly fixed the problem. Looking at a failed run https://github.com/github/codeql/actions/runs/4442367661/jobs/7798560621 the variable runner.temp is expanded with two different values.

In the following workflow snippet:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: centos:centos7
    steps: 
      - name: Download Ruby bundle
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: codeql-ruby-bundle
          path: ${{ runner.temp }}
      - name: Unzip Ruby bundle
        shell: bash
        run: unzip -q -d "${{ runner.temp }}/ruby-bundle" "${{ runner.temp }}/codeql-ruby-bundle.zip"

The use of path: ${{ github.temp }} in the with: clause of the download step was expanded correctly:

  with:
    name: codeql-ruby-bundle
    path: /home/runner/work/_temp

but the variable was expanded wrongly in the run: step.

unzip -q -d "/home/runner/work/_temp/ruby-bundle" "/home/runner/work/_temp/codeql-ruby-bundle.zip"

Expected behavior All uses of the runner.temp variable inside the steps should be expanded to same value. The same for any of the other folder related variables.

Runner Version and Platform

Version of your runner? ‘2.303.0’

OS of the machine running the runner? Linux

What’s not working?

Job fails with a “file not found” error message.

Job Log Output

If applicable, include the relevant part of the job / step log output here. All sensitive information should already be masked out, but please double-check before pasting here.

23s
0s
Run actions/download-artifact@v3
/usr/bin/docker exec  738c06c08904026388[1](https://github.com/github/codeql/actions/runs/4442367661/jobs/7798560621#step:6:1)a29ebc5944bd1ae51256[8](https://github.com/github/codeql/actions/runs/4442367661/jobs/7798560621#step:6:9)[9](https://github.com/github/codeql/actions/runs/4442367661/jobs/7798560621#step:6:10)97cdb84589427445afc1e39 sh -c "cat /etc/*release | grep ^ID"
Starting download for codeql-ruby-bundle
Directory structure has been setup for the artifact
Total number of files that will be downloaded: 1
Artifact codeql-ruby-bundle was downloaded to /__w/_temp
Artifact download has finished successfully
0s
Run unzip -q -d "/home/runner/work/_temp/ruby-bundle" "/home/runner/work/_temp/codeql-ruby-bundle.zip"
unzip:  cannot find or open /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql-ruby-bundle.zip, /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql-ruby-bundle.zip.zip or /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql-ruby-bundle.zip.ZIP.
Error: Process completed with exit code 9.

[aibaars]

Yes indeed, we already switched to RUNNER_TEMP which worked as expected.

Thanks for helping me understand what it going on. In the end the expansion is not inconsistent. It’s just the way how action inputs are translated to environment variables that made it look like there was an inconsistency.

[nikola-jokic]

Exactly 😄 Envs are getting translated for sure I think you can leverage env instead of template to get the container path: RUNNER_TEMP for example That one will get translated for sure