`total length of command line and environment variables exceeds limit` in GitHub Actions

Question

`total length of command line and environment variables exceeds limit` in GitHub Actions

Closed this issue a year ago · 27 comments

Example: https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3447009698/jobs/5752563468

There is a limitation of total environment variable lengths in wasm_exec.js (https://github.com/golang/go/blob/fcd14bdcbdfbb5b0c79cfecff95291837836a76d/misc/wasm/wasm_exec.js#L523-L525) and apparently the limitation is exceeded in GitHub Actions.

wasmbrowsertest is not to blame, but would it be possible to add a hack to suppress this error, or add a backdoor to pass an original wasm_exec.js?

Answer 1 · 2022-11-11T19:16:25.000Z

Shouldn't it be possible to limit the number of env vars before starting go test? We can get a dump of all env vars and unset the ones we don't need.

Answer 2 · 2022-11-12T03:29:08.000Z

It's possible, but 1) it is a little troublesome to do multiple trials with GitHub Actions, and 2) the situation might be changed anytime later so unsetting some environment variables would not be a long-term solution.

Answer 3 · 2022-11-12T05:41:25.000Z

Right, but that seems like the only non-hacky solution. My aim with wasmbrowsertest is for the tool to be as dumb as possible without much hacks. It should be possible to add a flag to pass a custom wasm_exec.js, but I am trying to weigh if this problem warrants such a solution.

Answer 4 · 2022-11-12T06:58:27.000Z

The environment variable was:

ProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)
CommonProgramFiles(x[8](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:9)6)=C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files
SELENIUM_JAR_PATH=C:\selenium\selenium-server.jar
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS=2
PROCESSOR_LEVEL=6
GOROOT_1_17_X64=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\go\1.17.13\x64
CONDA=C:\Miniconda
CABAL_DIR=C:\cabal
GITHUB_WORKSPACE=D:\a\ebiten\ebiten
M2=C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\maven\apache-maven-3.8.6\bin
JAVA_HOME_11_X64=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk\11.0.17-8\x64
PGROOT=C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\14
ChromeWebDriver=C:\SeleniumWebDrivers\ChromeDriver
USERDOMAIN_ROAMINGPROFILE=fv-az8[9](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:10)-916
IEWebDriver=C:\SeleniumWebDrivers\IEDriver
POWERSHELL_UPDATECHECK=Off
PROGRAMFILES=C:\Program Files
GITHUB_PATH=D:\a\_temp\_runner_file_commands\add_path_c90e6dc9-4b6c-4b59-9a35-cd4cadcb59d6
GITHUB_ACTION=__run_5
MSYSTEM=MINGW64
ChocolateyInstall=C:\ProgramData\chocolatey
SBT_HOME=C:\Program Files (x86)\sbt\
PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC
JAVA_HOME=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Java_Adopt_jdk\11.0.16-[10](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:11)1\x64
GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER=3809
RUNNER_NAME=GitHub Actions 2
GRADLE_HOME=C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\gradle\tools\gradle-7.5.1
PGPASSWORD=root
OS=Windows_NT
HOMEDRIVE=C:
PGBIN=C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\14\bin
ANT_HOME=C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\ant\tools\apache-ant-1.10.12
JAVA_HOME_8_X64=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk\8.0.345-1\x64
GITHUB_TRIGGERING_ACTOR=hajimehoshi
GITHUB_REF_TYPE=branch
M2_REPO=C:\ProgramData\m2
USERDOMAIN=fv-az89-916
ANDROID_NDK=C:\Android\android-sdk\ndk\25.1.8937393
***
PIPX_BIN_DIR=C:\Program Files (x86)\pipx_bin
USERPROFILE=C:\Users\runneradmin
DEPLOYMENT_BASEPATH=C:\actions
GITHUB_ACTIONS=true
ANDROID_NDK_LATEST_HOME=C:\Android\android-sdk\ndk\25.1.8937393
GITHUB_SHA=6763d34baeda03aa83b28d49485968265c35638a
POWERSHELL_DISTRIBUTION_CHANNEL=GitHub-Actions-win22
DOTNET_MULTILEVEL_LOOKUP=0
GITHUB_REF=refs/heads/issue-2412-wasm
ALLUSERSPROFILE=C:\ProgramData
RUNNER_OS=Windows
CommonProgramW6432=C:\Program Files\Common Files
GITHUB_REF_PROTECTED=false
HOME=/c/Users/runneradmin
USERNAME=runneradmin
GITHUB_API_URL=https://api.github.com
RUNNER_TRACKING_ID=github_79e38b51-4b7f-4aa1-917b-a6b7644929a5
PLINK_PROTOCOL=ssh
RUNNER_ARCH=X64
COMSPEC=C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
RUNNER_TEMP=D:\a\_temp
GITHUB_STATE=D:\a\_temp\_runner_file_commands\save_state_c90e6dc9-4b6c-4b59-9a35-cd4cadcb59d6
PGUSER=postgres
APPDATA=C:\Users\runneradmin\AppData\Roaming
GITHUB_ENV=D:\a\_temp\_runner_file_commands\set_env_c90e6dc9-4b6c-4b59-9a35-cd4cadcb59d6
SYSTEMROOT=C:\Windows
GITHUB_EVENT_PATH=D:\a\_temp\_github_workflow\event.json
GITHUB_EVENT_NAME=push
LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\runneradmin\AppData\Local
GITHUB_RUN_ID=3449948187
JAVA_HOME_17_X64=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk\17.0.5-8\x64
ANDROID_NDK_HOME=C:\Android\android-sdk\ndk\25.1.8937393
GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY=D:\a\_temp\_runner_file_commands\step_summary_c90e6dc9-4b6c-4b59-9a35-cd4cadcb59d6
COMPUTERNAME=fv-az89-916
GITHUB_ACTOR=hajimehoshi
GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT=1
STATS_RDCL=true
COBERTURA_HOME=C:\cobertura-2.1.1
ANDROID_HOME=C:\Android\android-sdk
GITHUB_GRAPHQL_URL=https://api.github.com/graphql
TERM=xterm-256color
LOGONSERVER=\\fv-az89-916
npm_config_prefix=C:\npm\prefix
PSModulePath=C:\\Modules\azurerm_2.1.0;C:\\Modules\azure_2.1.0;C:\Users\packer\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules;C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\PowerShell\Modules\
WIX=C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.[11](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:12)\
GITHUB_SERVER_URL=https://github.com
PIPX_HOME=C:\Program Files (x86)\pipx
TEMP=/tmp
DISPLAY=:99.0
SHLVL=1
PROCESSOR_REVISION=5507
GeckoWebDriver=C:\SeleniumWebDrivers\GeckoDriver
DriverData=C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\DriverData
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=C:\Android\android-sdk
VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT=C:\vcpkg
RUNNER_TOOL_CACHE=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows
ImageVersion=20221027.1
COMMONPROGRAMFILES=C:\Program Files\Common Files
GITHUB_REF_NAME=issue-24[12](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:13)-wasm
STATS_PFS=true
GITHUB_JOB=test
EXEPATH=C:\Program Files\Git\bin
PROCESSOR_IDENTIFIER=Intel64 Family 6 Model 85 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
AZURE_EXTENSION_DIR=C:\Program Files\Common Files\AzureCliExtensionDirectory
PERFLOG_LOCATION_SETTING=RUNNER_PERFLOG
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=hajimehoshi/ebiten
GCM_INTERACTIVE=Never
EdgeWebDriver=C:\SeleniumWebDrivers\EdgeDriver
PGDATA=C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\14\data
ANDROID_NDK_ROOT=C:\Android\android-sdk\ndk\25.1.8937393
PHPROOT=c:\tools\php
GOROOT_1_18_X64=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\go\1.18.7\x64
MAVEN_OPTS=-Xms256m
GITHUB_RETENTION_DAYS=90
HOMEPATH=\Users\runneradmin
RUNNER_WORKSPACE=D:\a\ebiten
GITHUB_ACTION_REPOSITORY=
TMP=/tmp
PATH=/mingw64/bin:/usr/bin:/c/Users/runneradmin/bin:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/Java_Adopt_jdk/11.0.16-101/x64/bin:/c/Users/runneradmin/go/bin:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/go/1.19.2/x64/bin:/c/Program Files/MongoDB/Server/5.0/bin:/c/aliyun-cli:/c/vcpkg:/c/Program Files (x86)/NSIS:/c/tools/zstd:/c/Program Files/Mercurial:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/stack/2.9.1/x64:/c/cabal/bin:/c/ghcup/bin:/c/tools/ghc-9.4.2/bin:/c/Program Files/dotnet:/c/mysql/bin:/c/Program Files/R/R-4.2.1/bin/x64:/c/SeleniumWebDrivers/GeckoDriver:/c/Program Files (x86)/sbt/bin:/c/Program Files (x86)/GitHub CLI:/bin:/c/Program Files (x86)/pipx_bin:/c/npm/prefix:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/go/1.17.[13](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:14)/x64/bin:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/Python/3.9.13/x64/Scripts:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/Python/3.9.13/x64:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/Ruby/3.0.4/x64/bin:/c/tools/kotlinc/bin:/c/hostedtoolcache/windows/Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk/8.0.345-1/x64/bin:/c/Program Files/ImageMagick-7.1.0-Q16-HDRI:/c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft SDKs/Azure/CLI2/wbin:/c/ProgramData/kind:/c/Program Files/Microsoft/jdk-11.0.12.7-hotspot/bin:/c/Windows/system32:/c/Windows:/c/Windows/System32/Wbem:/c/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0:/c/Windows/System32/OpenSSH:/c/Program Files/dotnet:/c/ProgramData/Chocolatey/bin:/c/Program Files/PowerShell/7:/c/Program Files/Microsoft/Web Platform Installer:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/Client SDK/ODBC/170/Tools/Binn:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/[15](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:16)0/Tools/Binn:/c/Program Files/OpenSSL/bin:/c/Strawberry/c/bin:/c/Strawberry/perl/site/bin:/c/Strawberry/perl/bin:/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/lib/pulumi/tools/Pulumi/bin:/c/Program Files/TortoiseSVN/bin:/c/Program Files/CMake/bin:/c/ProgramData/chocolatey/lib/maven/apache-maven-3.8.6/bin:/c/Program Files/Microsoft Service Fabric/bin/Fabric/Fabric.Code:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SDKs/Service Fabric/Tools/ServiceFabricLocalClusterManager:/c/Program Files/nodejs:/cmd:/mingw64/bin:/usr/bin:/c/Program Files/GitHub CLI:/c/tools/php:/c/Program Files (x86)/sbt/bin:/c/SeleniumWebDrivers/ChromeDriver:/c/SeleniumWebDrivers/EdgeDriver:/c/Program Files/Amazon/AWSCLIV2:/c/Program Files/Amazon/SessionManagerPlugin/bin:/c/Program Files/Amazon/AWSSAMCLI/bin:/c/Program Files/Microsoft SQL Server/130/Tools/Binn:/c/Program Files/LLVM/bin:/c/Users/runneradmin/.dotnet/tools:/c/Users/runneradmin/.cargo/bin:/c/Users/runneradmin/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps
RUNNER_PERFLOG=C:\actions\perflog
GITHUB_BASE_REF=
ProgramW6432=C:\Program Files
GHCUP_INSTALL_BASE_PREFIX=C:\
CI=true
ImageOS=win22
RTOOLS40_HOME=C:\rtools40
GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER=hajimehoshi
GITHUB_HEAD_REF=
GITHUB_ACTION_REF=
WINDIR=C:\Windows
GOROOT_1_[19](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:20)_X64=C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\go\1.19.2\x64
GITHUB_WORKFLOW=Test
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=AMD64
PUBLIC=C:\Users\Public
GHCUP_MSYS2=C:\msys64
GITHUB_OUTPUT=D:\a\_temp\_runner_file_commands\set_output_c90e6dc9-4b6c-4b59-9a[35](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:36)-cd4cadcb[59](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3449948187/jobs/5758224308#step:9:60)d6
SYSTEMDRIVE=C:
ProgramData=C:\ProgramData
_=/usr/bin/env

This is about 7639 bytes (including new-lines), and probably this exceeds 8192 bytes by adjusting offsets for each variable.

Answer 5 · 2022-11-12T07:30:28.000Z

Note that there is a secret environment variable for passwords and it is hard to estimate actual lengths.

Unsetting PSModulePath didn't solve the issue. Unsetting PATH might work but usually I cannot unset this when running wasmbrowsertest.

The constant 8192 for the limitation in wasm_exec.js seems to sync with a constant value in a linker so it would be impossible to change this value.

So, I'd like to modify wasm_exec.js to ignore the passed environment variables, or modify wasmbrowsertest not to pass environment variables to go.env. What do you think?

Answer 6 · 2022-11-16T15:27:33.000Z

Sorry, I forgot about this. I'll need to think some more on what the right solution should be. I'll keep you posted.

Answer 7 · 2022-12-23T06:11:08.000Z

@hajimehoshi - Apologies for the delay. I think we can add a separate env var WASM_SUPPRESS_ENVVARS that will prevent passing any env vars to the wasm_exec.js file. Would you be fine with that? I don't want to add any further configuration to be able to pass custom env vars. It's either pass everything or nothing.

Answer 8 · 2022-12-23T06:38:29.000Z

Actually, I think here is a better solution that does what we are trying to do: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58467637/how-to-clear-all-env-variables. If you simply wipe off everything before starting the test, then the tool won't get anything to pass on to wasm_exec.js. You can even enable select env vars after the command.

Answer 9 · 2022-12-28T17:07:31.000Z

I'll try to reset all the envs later. Thanks,

Answer 10 · 2023-01-20T14:20:44.000Z

https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3967893436/jobs/6800384499

Hmm, unset doesn't work well... This seems GitHub Action's unknown behavior to me. I'll take a look further.

Answer 11 · 2023-01-20T18:13:09.000Z

PATH is the biggest environment variable, which takes more than 2000 bytes
Modifying an environment variable is very tricky: set didn't work as expected. Echo-ing to $GITHUB_ENV didn't work as expected
Shrinking PATH correctly is very tricky. If this is empty, even go doesn't work. I called go run with env GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm PATH="$(which go)\\.." go test -shuffle=on -v ./... but failed
Fixing wasm_exec.js like this worked:

--- a/usr/local/go/misc/wasm/wasm_exec.js
+++ b/./.github/workflows/wasm_exec.js
@@ -506,6 +506,9 @@
 
                        const keys = Object.keys(this.env).sort();
                        keys.forEach((key) => {
+                               if (key === "PATH") {
+                                       return;
+                               }
                                argvPtrs.push(strPtr(`${key}=${this.env[key]}`));
                        });
                        argvPtrs.push(0);

So, I still want wasmbrowsertest have a feature to filter out an environment variable. If not, I would modify wasm_exec.js by myself.

Answer 12 · 2023-01-20T18:30:06.000Z

Can't you directly pass the full path to the go binary?

Answer 13 · 2023-01-20T18:40:50.000Z

Go itself worked with an empty PATH but the test failed:

fork/exec C:\Users\RUNNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp\go-build3027852083\b[10](https://github.com/hajimehoshi/ebiten/actions/runs/3970323713/jobs/6805908918#step:6:11)1\ebiten.test: %1 is not a valid Win32 application.

So, as I have already said, it is pretty tricky to find a minimal value for PATH.

Answer 14 · 2023-01-21T09:35:55.000Z

Ah I see. Indeed.

I think it will be too much customization for wasmbrowsertest to filter out a specific environment variable(s). I was thinking like a complete off or pass everything. Otherwise, modifying wasm_exec.js seems like an easy enough solution without modifying wasmbrowsertest.

Answer 15 · 2023-01-23T03:27:04.000Z

I was thinking like a complete off or pass everything

So you decided not to do it, right?

Answer 16 · 2023-01-23T05:54:40.000Z

Yes, since it is basically a hammer, and not a clean solution to this exact problem.

Answer 17 · 2023-01-25T05:51:58.000Z

It appears GitHub Actions rides really close to the maximum env var size limit for Go Wasm execution. Perhaps we should at least document a work-around to unset more variables during test execution?

Answer 18 · 2023-01-25T07:24:49.000Z

I managed to fix this with a small Go script: hack-pad@1325983
Cross-OS portability in GitHub Actions files is apparently a big pain. Before I got the above working, I had tried loads of different script variants, but Powershell(?) didn't like them.

Despite this working, a built-in way to filter allowed or disallowed environment variables would be a much better solution. I don't feel like this work-around is good enough to simply be documented. 😕

Answer 19 · 2023-01-27T03:42:36.000Z

@agnivade Do you think we should reopen?

It appears my PR has hit the same issue and it's using a bog-standard CI environment.

Answer 20 · 2023-01-27T03:59:58.000Z

Yeah, as this is a general issue when using GitHub Actions, having a solution in wasmbrowsertest would be nice.

Answer 21 · 2023-01-27T06:18:23.000Z

I like your solution 👍 . It keeps things separate from wasmbrowsertest, and it's an opt-in thing that the users can use. Perhaps we can add another binary under ci/stripenv and use that in CI? To start off, we can go with a hardcoded set of env vars to filter out. Later, we can take the list as params that are passed during execution.

Do you want to send a separate PR for this?

Answer 22 · 2023-01-27T15:17:35.000Z

I could open a PR soon 👍

My concern with my work-around is it's pretty much a band-aid. Since Go Wasm binaries have a very small env var + process arg limit, I'm thinking the unconditional copy of all env variables is problematic.

Of course, because we're inside an exec tool, we don't have access to much — other than environment variables and Go's built-in test flags.

Would it be reasonable to add an option to opt-out on wasmbrowsertest itself?

Some options:

Avoid copying env by default, as not everyone requires env vars. Then add an opt-in mechanism that adds them all back. This would be a breaking change for previous users.
WASM_ENV_PREFIX which only passes through certain prefixed env var names (and strips the prefix). Like an opt-out, but also opts-in to certain ones at the same time.

Answer 23 · 2023-01-27T16:34:48.000Z

I was willing to do option 1, but it looks like the $PATH variable was compulsory for tests to run for @hajimehoshi. I am reluctant to do option 2. It's too much customization for a limited scope tool like wasmbrowsertest. wasmbrowsertest should not be responsible to manage what env vars are passed. That should be controlled by the user who is executing the tool.

IMO, this should be fixed during starting the test itself by reducing the list of env vars passed. If that's not an option, then this workaround looks fairly reasonable to me. It is effectively what option 2 would achieve, but outside of wasmbrowsertest, which is my main objective.

Answer 24 · 2023-01-29T00:28:01.000Z

I think the reason this is tricky is because Go created the smaller max env var + args limit, effectively punting to the exec tool, which is currently punted to the user. Darn.

IMO, this should be fixed during starting the test itself by reducing the list of env vars passed. If that's not an option, then this workaround looks fairly reasonable to me. It is effectively what option 2 would achieve, but outside of wasmbrowsertest, which is my main objective.

Fair enough 👍
Given there's not a simple cross-platform shell/powershell command to unset multiple variables, I think we may require either A) a Go script of some kind or B) a different script for each OS variant. The single Go script seems to be the simplest approach.

I'll start putting together a PR for this Go script. Do you think it should be:

A general purpose tool others could install separately
A shared GitHub Action
Or keep it strictly as an internal script? (<-- I'll assume this one for now.)

A separate tool might be great for adopters using CI too. Perhaps something like this?

go install github.com/agnivade/wasmbrowsertest/cmd/cleanenv@latest
cleanenv --ignore 'GITHUB_*' -- \
    go test ./...

Answer 25 · 2023-01-29T06:58:31.000Z

A separate tool might be great for adopters using CI too. Perhaps something like this?

Yep. So basically solution 1.

Answer 26 · 2023-01-29T08:43:08.000Z

Ok great! All set now: #43

Answer 27 · 2023-01-30T03:55:09.000Z

Thank you! I will take a look as soon as I have some time.