Windows: tlmgr: command not found

[bschilder]

Describe the bug

Following the instructions here do not seem to work on Windows. I don't see any notes on Windows behaving any differently either.
https://github.com/r-lib/actions/tree/v2-branch/setup-tinytex#ctan-packages

See GHA report here:
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3725655507/jobs/6318599061#step:2:502

To Reproduce

Run the example code given in the documentation within any GHA workflow that uses the windows-latest runner.

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3
  - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-tinytex@v2
  - run: tlmgr --version

  - name: Install additional LaTeX packages
    run: |
      tlmgr install titlesec
      tlmgr list --only-installed

Expected behavior

Instructions should work on all major platforms.

Additional context

Originally identified here #670

Thanks,
Brian

[gaborcsardi]

See GHA report here:

That workflow does not use the setup-tinytex action at all.

Here is a working example:
https://github.com/r-lib/actions/actions/runs/3726614443/jobs/6320179744

[bschilder]

Hi @gaborcsardi, I'm afraid you may be mistaken. It does indeed use the setup-tinytex action, albeit via the rworkflows action.
Please see here:
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/blob/master/action.yml#L183

Could you please reopen this until we can both confirm it's resolved?

Thanks,
Brian

[gaborcsardi]

I can't reproduce this without extra actions, so if you had a an example build where it fails, that would be great. Thanks!

[bschilder]

No problem, here's a more simplified workflow that replicates the error:
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3732640048/workflow

Report log:
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3732640048/jobs/6332355836

[bschilder]

And here's an even more minimal example using only Windows:

Workflow file:
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3732783240/workflow

Report log:
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3732783240/jobs/6332691161

[gaborcsardi]

Works if I run it in the default shell, instead of bash: https://github.com/gaborcsardi/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733006773

[bschilder]

I see, interesting!

Actions requires that I provide the interpreter, but if I can figure out to to explicitly define whatever the default is, it will hopefully work. Let me give that a go and I'll let you know what happens.

[bschilder]

Ok, so here's what I've learned:

Trying different shells

pwsh

pwsh is supposedly the default shell for Windows on GHA (according to the official GitHub documentation), and yet it does not seem to work.

You'll notice in your workflow that the following warning occurs in the r-lib/actions/setup-tinytex@v2 step:

D:\a\rworkflows\rworkflows>where /q powershell   || echo powershell not found   && exit /b 

https://github.com/gaborcsardi/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733006773/jobs/6333212360#step:3:8

Yet, in this case it's somehow able to recover and complete the step (seemingly successfully).
The next step with tlmgr install bera also seems to run fine (without specifying the shell).

However, when you specify pwsh as the shell explicitly in the next step, it fails:

    - name: Install additional LaTeX packages (Windows)
      if: inputs.runner_os == 'Windows'
      run: |
        tlmgr install bera
        tlmgr list --only-installed
      shell: pwsh {0}

https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733195840/jobs/6333659645#step:4:26

cmd

I also tried out using cmd. This only works for Windows, so I added a conditional step here:

- name: Install additional LaTeX packages (non-Windows)
      if: inputs.runner_os != 'Windows'
      run: |
        tlmgr install bera
        tlmgr list --only-installed
      shell: bash {0} 
      
    - name: Install additional LaTeX packages (Windows)
      if: inputs.runner_os == 'Windows'
      run: |
        tlmgr install bera
        tlmgr list --only-installed
      shell: cmd {0} 

This seems to work!
https://github.com/neurogenomics/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733419412/jobs/6334189325

Summary

Taken together, it doesn't really seem like pwsh is actually the default shell for Windows on GHA. So either there's some extra shell interpreter handling that occurs when you leave the defaults (as you did), and not when you specify the shell (as I did with pwsh), or the GitHub Actions documentation is out of date.

Either way, I think this solution should work. It would probably be worth added a note about this behaviour in the setup-tinytex documentation, as it's likely to come up again for anyone trying to use this action when creating other actions (which again require you to be explicit about shell interpreters)
https://github.com/r-lib/actions/tree/v2-branch/setup-tinytex#ctan-packages

[gaborcsardi]

This is the syntax for pwsh, if you want to specify it explicitly:
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#example-running-a-script-using-powershell-core
https://github.com/gaborcsardi/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733696120/jobs/6334812345

[gaborcsardi]

bash does not work, otoh, which is not surprising, as it has a PATH that is separate from the system path: https://github.com/gaborcsardi/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733745463/workflow

So you'd need to add tlmgr to the (Git) bash path as well to make it work.

[bschilder]

bash does not work, otoh, which is not surprising, as it has a PATH that is separate from the system path: https://github.com/gaborcsardi/rworkflows/actions/runs/3733745463/workflow

So you'd need to add tlmgr to the (Git) bash path as well to make it work.

I thought that was the purpose of setup-tinytex? Should it not make it available to all relevant paths? Or at least the default shell paths (e.g. bash, pwsh).

[gaborcsardi]

We call the GitHub Action API to set the PATH, I think that's the right thing to do:

actions/setup-tinytex/src/setup-tinytex.ts

Line 123 in b9ac772

core.addPath(

[bschilder]

We call the GitHub Action API to set the PATH, I think that's the right thing to do:

actions/setup-tinytex/src/setup-tinytex.ts

Line 123 in b9ac772

core.addPath(

ok, but it still stands that pwsh is unable to find tlmgr. So if this strategy isn't sufficient to make tlmgr usable by pwsh (without additional troubleshooting to export the path in another step), shouldn't something be added to the action to make it so? sorry if im missing something here

[gaborcsardi]

ok, but it still stands that pwsh is unable to find tlmgr

No, it works with pwsh, see above: #671 (comment)

[bschilder]

I see, so comparing our workflows, it seems omitting {0} in pwsh {0} makes a difference (the latter fails in my case).

Not sure I fully understand what this syntax means, but I think it might be specifying a different shell than the one that setup-tinytex

https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#exit-codes-and-error-action-preference

Thanks for clarifying!

[bschilder]

I think this can be safely closed @gaborcsardi . I'll leave it up to you whether you'd like to add a note about shells in the documentation.

Thanks for all your help!

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