Install on Windows is very slow

[G-Rath]

Description:
Installing Go on Windows seems to consistently take at least 30+ seconds to install, usually 1 minute and sometimes more - it's at least consistently 30 seconds longer than on other OSs (which typically take 10-20 seconds).

This consistently represents ~3/4th of the CI run time for osv-detector - the test suite takes only ~20 seconds (on Windows).

https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/runs/7033093878?check_suite_focus=true

This one took 3 minutes:

https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/runs/7033278935?check_suite_focus=true

Action version:
v3

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:

1.17.9

Repro steps:
https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/blob/main/.github/workflows/checks.yml

https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/actions/workflows/checks.yml
https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/runs/7033093878?check_suite_focus=true
https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/runs/7034205194?check_suite_focus=true
https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/runs/7033293623?check_suite_focus=true
https://github.com/G-Rath/osv-detector/runs/7033278935?check_suite_focus=true

Expected behavior:
The install time to be below 30 seconds on average, ideally never going over a minute.

Actual behavior:
The install time is consistently above 30 seconds, often even above 1 minute and sometimes as long as 3 minutes.

[dmitry-shibanov]

Hello @G-Rath. Thank you for your report. We'll investigate the issue.

[panticmilos]

Hi @G-Rath,

We need to replace extracting method in order to fix this issue. I will let you know when that PR is ready.

[ValentinTrinque]

Is this something that is still planned ?

On one of my setup:

• Linux takes ~20s
• MacOS is a bit slower and takes ~1m
• But Windows takes ~3m20s

Not sure if this can help, the problem has been seen on windows there:

• Tar on Windows is very slow when extracting many small files from tar files microsoft/Windows-Dev-Performance#27

[dmitry-shibanov]

Hello @ValentinTrinque. Thank you for your comment. For now we're investigating the issue.

[KyleSanderson]

Any update on this very simple issue? All of the time is taken in zstd.

[dsame]

It does not seem we can solve the issue. The problem always relates to the writing to c: drive and it seems there's some sporadic IO issue unrelated to the action itself.

unpacking c: to c: https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5198627779/jobs/9376098775#step:3:209 ~3min
copy c: to c: https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5198627779/jobs/9376098775#step:3:215 ~20sec

unpacking c: to d: https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5198627779/jobs/9374998056#step:3:209 ~5sec
copy d: to c: https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5198627779/jobs/9374998056#step:3:216 ~1m10sec

the same 2 https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5198627779/jobs/9374998877#step:3:209

unpacking d: to d: https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5198627779/jobs/9374998877#step:3:209 3sec
copy d: to c: https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5197317747/jobs/9373658802#step:3:215 ~50sec

the same https://github.com/akv-demo/test-setup-go/actions/runs/5197317747/jobs/9373659211#step:3:208

[KyleSanderson]

@dsame none of those runs are public so I can't see what you've tried unfortunately.

Has anyone looked into the 15 yearold dism? It should give 0 second loading, and an optimized compression format on commit. imagex is older, and while I remember it to be slower, I'm unclear on any optimizations that have happened to this even older technology.

[dsame]

@KyleSanderson i made the repo public, but there's no sense to waste your time looking into it. The problem is confirmed, the fix is suggested and the issue is expected to be solved in the next 4-5 weeks.