CI Failure Analysis: Commit B80078 Fixes

Aug 16, 2025 by Lucas 41 views

CI Failure Analysis of Commit b80078: Root Causes and Solutions

Introduction

Hey folks! 👋 This article dives deep into the CI (Continuous Integration) failures encountered in commit b80078. We'll break down the root causes of each failure and provide suggested solutions. We'll use a friendly and approachable tone to make the information easy to understand. The goal is to help you quickly identify and resolve similar issues in your own projects.

Failed Workflow: Docker

Root Cause

The Docker build step within the test job failed due to a common headache: the inability of the build process to reliably reach external resources. Specifically, the apt-get update and apt-get install commands within the Dockerfile couldn't connect to the Debian repository at deb.debian.org. This resulted in intermittent network or DNS connectivity problems during the build, causing failures when fetching package indexes and errors indicating missing packages. This is a pretty typical issue, especially when building Docker images in environments with less-than-perfect network stability.

For example, the error logs included messages like these:

#9 ... Unable to connect to deb.debian.org:http:
#9 ... E: Unable to locate package git
#9 ... E: Unable to locate package graphviz

This means the Docker build was interrupted, and critical packages like git and graphviz couldn't be installed, preventing the rest of the build process from completing. This is a real bummer because it stalls the entire CI pipeline.

Suggested Solutions

Here are some solutions to address the Docker build failures, along with their pros and cons. We can pick the most suitable one for the given situation.

Option 1: Use the host network for Docker build

This approach leverages the host machine's network configuration directly within the Docker build process. This can bypass DNS resolution issues that might be occurring inside the build container. By adding --network=host to the docker build command, the build process will utilize the host's network stack.

Here's how the workflow would be updated:

--- a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run tests
         run: |
-          if [ -f docker-compose.test.yml ]; then
+          if [ -f docker-compose.test.yml ]; then
             docker-compose --file docker-compose.test.yml build
             docker-compose --file docker-compose.test.yml run sut
           else
-            docker build . --file Dockerfile
+            docker build --network=host . --file Dockerfile
           fi

Benefits: Simple to implement Potentially more reliable network connectivity Avoids container-specific network issues.

Drawbacks: May not be suitable if the host network configuration is very restrictive Could expose the build process to host-level network vulnerabilities.

Option 2: Add retry logic to apt-get update

This method involves incorporating retry mechanisms into the apt-get update command within the Dockerfile. By including the -o Acquire::Retries=3 option, the command will attempt to update the package index up to three times before failing. This accounts for transient network hiccups that can occur. This adds a bit of resilience to the build process without requiring changes to the workflow configuration.

Here's how the Dockerfile would be modified:

--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y git graphviz \
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y git graphviz \
+RUN apt-get update -o Acquire::Retries=3 --fix-missing && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y git graphviz \
     && apt-get clean \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Benefits: Doesn't require changes to the workflow file Handles transient network issues elegantly Relatively easy to implement.

Drawbacks: Might not resolve persistent network problems Adds a small amount of overhead to the build time.

Reference

Failed Workflow: test

Root Cause

This failure is related to authentication when using the GitHub CLI (gh) in the Generate PR summary issue step. The GitHub CLI requires a GH_TOKEN environment variable to be set for authentication within GitHub Actions workflows. The error logs explicitly stated that the GH_TOKEN was missing, preventing the command from executing correctly.

The error message indicates a common practice is missing: using the GITHUB_TOKEN secret. It will look something like this:

gh: To use GitHub CLI in a GitHub Actions workflow, set the GH_TOKEN environment variable. Example:
  env:
    GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
##[error]Process completed with exit code 4.

Without this token, the GitHub CLI cannot authenticate with the GitHub API, and the rest of the commands fail. This prevents the generation of a PR summary issue.

Failed Workflow: Smoke Test

Root Cause

The root cause here is a mismatch between the expected results in the smoke test and the actual results computed by the quark commands. Specifically, the conditional checks in the workflow were comparing the environment variable results against hard-coded values. These values didn't align with the output of the quark commands, causing the tests to fail. This mismatch will almost always cause issues if the underlying data changes.

Here's an example of the problem:

if [ "${{ env.a4db_RESULT }}" == "19" ]; then
  exit 0
else
  exit 1
fi
...
##[error]Process completed with exit code 1.

The environment variable a4db_RESULT was set to a different value than what the test was expecting. As a result, the test will fail due to this discrepancy.