sudo apt-get update stuck

[adamgyulavari]

Description

Sometimes sudo apt-get update hangs and hence any workflow using it will run forever.
(Since we're using it in composite actions as well, we cannot just put a timeout-minutes on the step as that is not supported in actions)

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 12
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Image: ubuntu-22.04
Version: 20250105.1.0
Included Software: https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/ubuntu22/20250105.1/images/ubuntu/Ubuntu2204-Readme.md
Image Release: https://github.com/actions/runner-images/releases/tag/ubuntu22%2F20250105.1

Is it regression?

It has been happening before, but cannot pinpoint a single version

Expected behavior

sudo apt-get update should run on the runners.

Actual behavior

It gets stuck:

Run sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get update
  shell: /usr/bin/bash --noprofile --norc -e -o pipefail {0}
  env:
    pythonLocation: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64
    PKG_CONFIG_PATH: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib/pkgconfig
    Python_ROOT_DIR: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64
    Python2_ROOT_DIR: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64
    Python3_ROOT_DIR: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Python/3.11.9/x64/lib
    pip_cache_directory: /home/runner/.cache/pip
    pip_version: 24.3.1
Get:1 file:/etc/apt/apt-mirrors.txt Mirrorlist [142 B]
Hit:6 https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/azure-cli jammy InRelease
Get:7 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/prod jammy InRelease [3632 B]
Get:8 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/prod jammy/main arm64 Packages [41.8 kB]
Get:9 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/prod jammy/main armhf Packages [16.4 kB]
Get:10 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/prod jammy/main amd64 Packages [[17](https://github.com/polygence/boshi/actions/runs/12746487392/job/35523197988#step:6:18)4 kB]
Ign:2 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Ign:3 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease
Ign:4 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease
Ign:5 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease
Ign:2 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Ign:3 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease
Ign:4 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease
Ign:5 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease
Ign:2 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Ign:3 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease
Ign:4 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease
Ign:5 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease
Ign:2 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Ign:3 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease
Ign:4 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease
Ign:5 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy InRelease
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates InRelease [128 kB]
Ign:11 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 Packages
Ign:12 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main Translation-en
Ign:13 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/restricted amd64 Packages
Ign:14 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/restricted Translation-en
Ign:15 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/universe amd64 Packages
Ign:16 http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/universe Translation-en
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports InRelease [1[27](https://github.com/polygence/boshi/actions/runs/12746487392/job/35523197988#step:6:28) kB]
Get:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-security InRelease [129 kB]

Repro steps

Since it is not happening all the time, not exactly sure how to reproduce. I have successful runs on the same image version:

  Image: ubuntu-22.04
  Version: 20250105.1.0
  Included Software: https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/ubuntu22/20250105.1/images/ubuntu/Ubuntu2204-Readme.md
  Image Release: https://github.com/actions/runner-images/releases/tag/ubuntu22%2F20250105.1

composite action: .github/actions/postgres-client/action.yml

name: Install postgres-client
description: Install postgres-client

inputs:
  POSTGRES_VERSION:
    description: POSTGRES_VERSION
    default: 16

runs:
  using: composite
  steps:
    - run: sudo apt-get update
      shell: bash
      continue-on-error: true
    - run: sudo apt install -y postgresql-common
      shell: bash
      # there are more steps, but the action gets stuck at the first step

Using it in workflow:

name: Run tests
on:
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:

  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest-large
    services:
      postgres:
        image: pgvector/pgvector:0.7.2-pg16
        env:
          POSTGRES_DB: 'development'
          POSTGRES_USER: 'admin'
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: 'admin'
        options: >-
          --mount type=tmpfs,destination=/var/lib/postgresql/data
          --health-cmd pg_isready
          --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s
          --health-retries 5
        ports:
          - 5432:5432
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: ./.github/actions/postgres-client

[Prabhatkumar59]

Hi @adamgyulavari - Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigating.

[kishorekumar-anchala]

Duplicate of #11347