Error using default `cache: ''` option since v3.7.0

[colinrotherham]

Description:
We've noticed that the default cache: '' option throws an error since v3.7.0

Post job cleanup.
Error: Cache folder paths are not retrieved for npm with cache-dependency-path = 

It's documented in README.md Usage

# Used to specify a package manager for caching in the default directory. Supported values: npm, yarn, pnpm.
# Package manager should be pre-installed
# Default: ''
cache: ''

Hope this report helps fix the issue for others. Thanks 😊

Action version:
v3.7.0

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:
Node.js v18.16.1 with default npm 9.5.1

Repro steps:
Add a GitHub Action workflow step with the default cache: '' option

Here we toggle inputs.use-cache to skip cache restoration of /home/runner/.npm when node_modules is already cached. This speeds up our GitHub Actions workflow runs on Windows

runs:
  using: composite

  steps:
    - name: Setup Node.js
      uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      id: setup-node

      with:
        cache: ${{ inputs.use-cache != 'false' && 'npm' || '' }}
        node-version-file: .nvmrc

See the full action.yml for more information

Here's our related PR to pin to version v3.6.0 as a fix:

• [support/4.x] Pin GitHub actions/setup-node to v3.6.0 alphagov/govuk-frontend#3909

Expected behavior:
The default cache: '' option to continue working

Actual behavior:
An error is thrown:

Post job cleanup.
Error: Cache folder paths are not retrieved for npm with cache-dependency-path = 

See examples of the error output:

• https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/actions/runs/5474554095/jobs/9969468646
• https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-frontend/actions/runs/5474554095/jobs/9971533338 (+ debug logs)

[dusan-trickovic]

Hello, @colinrotherham ! Thank you for submitting the issue, we will take a closer look at it and see what can be done :)

[dmitry-shibanov]

Hello @colinrotherham. I took a look at your logs and it looks like that during the post job you have different values because cache-hit does not exist at post job but the cache-hit is true during set up step.

[colinrotherham]

Thanks for taking a look @dmitry-shibanov

Yeah that's right

We intentionally set cache: '' because we know we'll skip npm ci later on

On Windows it's too slow to restore the npm get cache directory when we don't need it

[dmitry-shibanov]

Thank you for your response @colinrotherham. I think it is not the issue from actions/setup-node. I've tried to specify cache: '' and it works as expected. I think in your case because the condition changes to post jobs. During the set up step the action gets empty string but during post it gets npm because cache-hit becomes null that is why on post step the setup-node gets npm.

[colinrotherham]

Unless I'm reading the log messages wrong they're for our node_modules cache restore?

key: npm-install-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json', '**/package.json') }}

Do you think our cache-hit is true log messages affect actions/setup-node@v3.7.0?

Cache restored successfully
Cache restored from key: npm-install-Linux-XXXXXXX
##[debug]Node Action run completed with exit code 0
##[debug]Save intra-action state CACHE_KEY = npm-install-Linux-XXXXXXX
##[debug]Save intra-action state CACHE_RESULT = npm-install-Linux-XXXXXXX
##[debug]Set output cache-hit = true

Do our cache key names clash?

Composite action inputs

Otherwise thanks for pointing out our inputs.use-cache != 'false' check

During the set up step the action gets empty string but during post it gets npm because cache-hit becomes null that is why on post step the setup-node gets npm.

We hadn't noticed that the input changed from 'false' (set up step) to null (post step)

I presume in actions/setup-node@v3.6.0 this was handled a bit better?

We'll harden our checks for actions/setup-node@v3.7.0 but good to discuss for anyone else facing the issue

Appreciate it

[dmitry-shibanov]

You didn't face this issue before because previously the action was getting cached paths during the save-step through tools commands.Now the action gets cached paths during the setup steps and pass it to save step that is why now it fails for you because in your case the action during the setup step has empty string for cache but during (no paths for cache were saved) but during post step it gets cache as npm. It does not have cached paths that is why it fails.

It was working previously because the action could save the cache because it could get paths and they were not empty because from the initial run of npm i command the global cache directory was also generated.

[colinrotherham]

Ah that's a great explanation. Hope this helps others that hadn't realised

I'll update our input checks to include null which appears to fall under:

• Boolean inputs are not actually booleans in composite actions runner#2238

Will come back and close this issue if it all works

Thanks again

---

Update: All working 👍