Setup Isolated HOME Action

Creates an isolated HOME directory for Go builds on self-hosted runners with automatic cleanup.

Problem

When running multiple GitHub Actions jobs on self-hosted runners, Go creates read-only cache directories that can cause permission issues. This action:

• Creates a unique, isolated HOME directory for each workflow run
• Automatically cleans up the directory (including read-only Go caches) after the job completes
• Prevents conflicts between parallel workflow runs

Usage

name: Build & Test

on: [push]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: [self-hosted, go]
    steps:
      - name: Setup isolated HOME
        uses: dentech-floss/setup-isolated-home-action@v1

      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Build
        run: go build ./...

      - name: Test
        run: go test ./...

      # Cleanup happens automatically! No need for manual cleanup step.

How it works

1. Creates a unique directory: $RUNNER_TEMP/go-home-{run_id}-{run_attempt}
2. Sets $HOME environment variable for all subsequent steps
3. Automatically runs cleanup in a post-action hook (even if the job fails)
4. Removes read-only restrictions before deleting the directory

Outputs

• isolated-home: Path to the created isolated HOME directory

Why is this needed?

Go's module cache creates read-only directories (mode 0555). On self-hosted runners:

• Multiple jobs can conflict if they share the same HOME
• Cleanup fails without removing read-only restrictions
• Runner workspace cleanup can fail, causing subsequent jobs to fail

This action solves all these issues automatically.

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or PR.

About

Created and maintained by Dentech AB.