Paths to binaries put in GITHUB_PATH are not correctly set

[gotha]

Bug report info

act version:            0.2.71
GOOS:                   darwin
GOARCH:                 arm64
NumCPU:                 14
Docker host:            DOCKER_HOST environment variable is not set
Sockets found:
        /var/run/docker.sock
        $HOME/.docker/run/docker.sock
Config files:
        /Users/gotha/Library/Application Support/act/actrc:
                -P ubuntu-latest=catthehacker/ubuntu:act-latest
                -P ubuntu-22.04=catthehacker/ubuntu:act-22.04
                -P ubuntu-20.04=catthehacker/ubuntu:act-20.04
                -P ubuntu-18.04=catthehacker/ubuntu:act-18.04
Build info:
        Go version:            go1.23.4
        Module path:           github.com/nektos/act
        Main version:          (devel)
        Main path:             github.com/nektos/act
        Main checksum:
        Build settings:
                -buildmode:           exe
                -compiler:            gc
                -trimpath:            true
                CGO_ENABLED:          1
                GOARCH:               arm64
                GOOS:                 darwin
                GOARM64:              v8.0
Docker Engine:
        Engine version:        27.4.0
        Engine runtime:        runc
        Cgroup version:        2
        Cgroup driver:         cgroupfs
        Storage driver:        overlay2
        Registry URI:          https://index.docker.io/v1/
        OS:                    Docker Desktop
        OS type:               linux
        OS version:
        OS arch:               aarch64
        OS kernel:             6.10.14-linuxkit
        OS CPU:                1
        OS memory:             1974 MB
        Security options:
                name=seccomp,profile=unconfined
                name=cgroupns

Command used with act

act -W .github/workflows/test.yaml

Describe issue

When a step in the workflow installs a binary and puts it into $GITHUB_PATH it is not found by other scripts in the same step or job.

Expected behavior:
When test1.sh is executed and the it puts something in $GITHUB_PATH, the binary should be visible to

• other scripts in the same step
• scripts in the following step/s
• steps in a job that depends on the current

The described behaviour works with Github Actions, but fails with act (you can see the workflow in the attachment).

test1.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

version="v1.31.4"
arch
case $(uname -m) in
    i686)               arch="386" ;;
    x86_64)             arch="amd64" ;;
    arm|aarch64|arm64)  arch="arm64" ;;
    *) exit 1 ;;
esac

cache_dir="${RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE}/tmp/${version}/${arch}"
echo "cache_dir: $cache_dir"

kubectl_dir="${cache_dir}/kubectl/bin/"
echo "kubectl_dir: $kubectl_dir"
mkdir -p "${kubectl_dir}"
ls -las "$kubectl_dir"

echo "https://dl.k8s.io/release/${version}/bin/linux/${arch}/kubectl"
curl -sSLo "${kubectl_dir}/kubectl" "https://dl.k8s.io/release/${version}/bin/linux/${arch}/kubectl"
chmod +x "${kubectl_dir}/kubectl"

echo 'Adding kubectl directory to PATH...'
echo "${kubectl_dir}" >> "${GITHUB_PATH}"

test2.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

echo "which:"
which kubectl
echo "kubectl ver"
kubectl version --client

Link to GitHub repository

Here is an example of pipeline that succeeds with running the scripts:
https://github.com/gotha/kind-action/actions/runs/13030156289/job/36347477256

The behavior was originally observed when using helm/kind-action@v1

Workflow content

name: Manually trigger a pipeline to test how GITUB_PATH works

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches:
      - *
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - name: dbg1
      run: |
        ./test1.sh
        ./test2.sh
    - name: dbg2
      run: |
        ./test2.sh

  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - name: dbg3
      run: |
        ./test2.sh

Relevant log output

[CI/build]   ✅  Success - Main Checkout code
[CI/build] ⭐ Run Main dbg1
[CI/build]   🐳  docker exec cmd=[bash -e /var/run/act/workflow/1] user= workdir=
| aarch64
| cache_dir: /opt/hostedtoolcache/tmp/v1.31.4/arm64
| kubectl_dir: /opt/hostedtoolcache/tmp/v1.31.4/arm64/kubectl/bin/
| https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.31.4/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl
| Adding kubectl directory to PATH...
| which:
| kubectl ver
| .test2.sh: line 6: kubectl: command not found
[CI/build]   ❌  Failure - Main dbg1
[CI/build]   ⚙  ::add-path:: /opt/hostedtoolcache/tmp/v1.31.4/arm64/kubectl/bin/
[CI/build] exitcode '127': command not found, please refer to https://github.com/nektos/act/issues/107 for more information

Additional information

No response

[ChristopherHX]

• other scripts in the same step
• steps in a job that depends on the current

I disagree, btw the vm image used on GitHub contains kubectl https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/ubuntu24/20250126.1/images/ubuntu/Ubuntu2404-Readme.md#tools

So you don't observe that your workflow might be broken?

You could download it if you like, its tag full-24.04 of the default images listed in the act user guide runner page

scripts in the following step/s

I agree about this should work, is this broken?