Occasionally getting candidates is not iterable error

[jonathonlacher]

Description:
I'm occasionally getting the following error when this Action is ran:

Run actions/setup-python@v5
Installed versions
  Version 3.12.3 was not found in the local cache
  Error: candidates is not iterable

Action version:
v5.1.0

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:

3.12.3

Repro steps:
Repo is on GHES, so not able to link to it.

1. I have a reusable workflow that is used by a number of other projects.
2. The reusable workflow has a step that uses the setup-python action.

   ...
   runs:
     using: "composite"
     steps:
     - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: '3.12.3'

3. On occasion, I think starting with in the last day, I sometimes see the error. A re-run typically works successfully.

Not sure if the complexities of GHES are the cause, though I have seen some indications searching all of github.com that at least 1 other person has gotten this error before when using this action.

They potentially say it's related to rate limiting, though the error, at least to me, isn't clear enough to indicate that.

This also might be relevant: setup-python is one of the default bundled Actions with GHES, so my understanding is the that the runner should only be calling out to github.com for accessing the python-versions maniest and corresponding release.

Expected behavior:

Here is what I expect, for the Action to download the release tar.

Actual behavior:

The action fails to find the version available for downloading.

[jonathonlacher]

At the very least, it seems the error message isn't clear enough to understand the actual issue.

[HarithaVattikuti]

Hello @jonathonlacher
Thank you for creating this issue. We will investigate it and get back to you as soon as we have some feedback.

[mahabaleshwars]

Hello @jonathonlacher, Thank you once again for bringing this issue to our attention. We attempted to reproduce the problem but were unsuccessful. Upon further investigation, we identified the following potential causes for the failure:

• Network Interruptions: Intermittent network issues might cause failures in downloading the specified Python version. These issues could be transient and may not occur during subsequent attempts.
• GHES Complexities: Specific complexities or configurations related to GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES) might influence the action's behavior.
  It would be very helpful if we could obtain the detailed logs of the failed run or a link to a public repository that reproduces the problem . As we understand from your description, the issue is not consistent, and these logs would aid us in identifying the root cause more effectively.

[aparnajyothi-y]

Hello @jonathonlacher, we attempted to reproduce the issue on the GHES server but were unsuccessful even after more than 150 runs. Please review the above feedback, which likely identifies the cause of the issue. I have attached a screenshot for reference.

[jonathonlacher]

@aparnajyothi-y @mahabaleshwars do you have any suggestions on how to capture more logs or which logs would be helpful?

What specifically is throwing the error ( Error: candidates is not iterable)?

[HarithaVattikuti]

Hello @jonathonlacher,
To capture more detailed logs in your GitHub Actions workflow, you can enable additional debugging by setting the following environment variables:

env:
  ACTIONS_RUNNER_DEBUG: true
  ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG: true

To check the logs in the runner, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Runner Directory: Go to the directory where the self-hosted runner is installed.
2. Check the _diag Directory: Within the runner installation directory, locate the _diag directory. It contains diagnostic logs.

These settings will generate detailed logs to help diagnose issues. However, we currently cannot pinpoint the exact cause of the "Error: candidates is not iterable" message.