m2 mac-mini self-hosted fails to see parallels plugin

[Stromweld]

Expected Behavior

packer build to provision server and start build process

Current Behavior

When using the setup-packer@v2.0.0 or main packer is installed and packer init installs the parallels plugin even though the server already has the plugin. Then during the build job it fails with an error saying that parallels plugin is not found and that packer init needs to be ran. Packer is also locally installed on the self-hosted runner through home brew and If I remove the setup-packer action step the build runs as expected. The same job setup is also done on an Intel Mac Mini without any issues.

Here's current output of job run

Setup Packer Step >
Run hashicorp/setup-packer@v2.0.0
  with:
    version: latest
  
Installing packer:latest and adding it to GitHub Actions Path
Downloading packer_1.8.6_darwin_arm64.zip.
/usr/bin/unzip -o -q /Users/coreyhemminger/actions-runner3/_work/_temp/packer_1.8.6_darwin_arm64.zip
packer:latest added to path

Packer Init Step >
Run packer init -upgrade packer_templates
  packer init -upgrade packer_templates
  shell: /bin/bash -e {0}
  env:
    PACKER_GITHUB_API_TOKEN: ***
Installed plugin github.com/hashicorp/parallels v1.0.3 in "/Users/coreyhemminger/.config/packer/plugins/github.com/hashicorp/parallels/packer-plugin-parallels_v1.0.3_x5.0_darwin_arm64"

Packer Build Step >
Run packer build -timestamp-ui -only=virtualbox-iso.vm -var-file=os_pkrvars/$(echo almalinux-8 | cut -d "-" -f 1)/"almalinux-8-aarch64.pkrvars.hcl" packer_templates
  packer build -timestamp-ui -only=virtualbox-iso.vm -var-file=os_pkrvars/$(echo almalinux-8 | cut -d "-" -f 1)/"almalinux-8-aarch64.pkrvars.hcl" packer_templates
  shell: /bin/bash -e {0}
  
Error: no plugin installed for github.com/hashicorp/parallels >= 1.0.1

Did you run packer init for this project ?


Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

Steps to Reproduce

M2 Mac Mini with self-hosted github actions runner installed and running as a service.
Homebrew install of Parallels, Virtualbox, Vmware-Fusion, qemu, packer
Clone of Bento project at github.com/chef/bento
Update ci.yml in .github > workflows directory to enable an arm build job
create a pr and watch job run

[ksatirli]

Thanks for reporting this @Stromweld!

Can you share your workflow config as well as a minimal template that you use with this Action?

[Stromweld]

Here is the workflow config edited for length. The full version can be found here https://github.com/chef/bento

---
on:
  pull_request:

jobs:
  aarch64:
    runs-on: [self-hosted, ARM64, parallels]
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os:
          - almalinux-8
        provider:
          - parallels-iso
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@main
      - name: Setup Packer
        if: steps.verify-changed-files.outputs.files_changed == 'true'
        uses: hashicorp/setup-packer@main
        with:
          version: latest
      - name: Packer Init
        env:
          PACKER_GITHUB_API_TOKEN: "${{ secrets.PACKER_GITHUB_API_TOKEN }}"
        run: packer init -upgrade packer_templates
      - name: Packer build
        run: packer build -timestamp-ui pkr-builder.pkr.hcl

HCL Template: pkr-builder.pkr.hcl

packer {
  required_version = ">= 1.7.0"
  required_plugins {
    parallels = {
      version = ">= 1.0.1"
      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/parallels"
    }
    vagrant = {
      version = ">= 1.0.2"
      source  = "github.com/hashicorp/vagrant"
    }
    vmware = {
      version = ">= 0.0.1"
      source  = "github.com/stromweld/vmware" # TODO: switching to stromweld repo for fix to vmware tools for fusion 13 till official fix is in place https://github.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-vmware/issues/109
    }
  }
}

locals {
  scripts =  [
                "${path.root}/scripts/rhel/update_dnf.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/motd.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/sshd.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/vagrant.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/virtualbox.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/vmware_rhel.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/parallels-rhel.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/rhel/cleanup_dnf.sh",
                "${path.root}/scripts/_common/minimize.sh"
              ]
}

source "parallels-iso" "vm" {
  guest_os_type          = "centos"
  parallels_tools_flavor = "lin-arm"
  parallels_tools_mode   = "upload"
  prlctl                 = [
      ["set", "{{ .Name }}", "--3d-accelerate", "off"],
      ["set", "{{ .Name }}", "--videosize", "16"]
    ]
  prlctl_version_file    = ".prlctl_version"
  boot_command           = ["<wait><up>e<wait><down><down><end><wait> inst.text inst.ks=http://{{ .HTTPIP }}:{{.HTTPPort }}/rhel/8ks.cfg <leftCtrlOn>x<leftCtrlOff>"]
  boot_wait              = "10s"
  cpus                   = 2
  communicator           = "ssh"
  disk_size              = 65536
  http_directory         = "${path.root}/http"
  iso_checksum           = "file:https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/8/isos/aarch64/CHECKSUM"
  iso_url                = "https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/8/isos/aarch64/AlmaLinux-8.7-update-1-aarch64-minimal.iso"
  memory                 = 2048
  output_directory       = "packer-almalinux-8.7-aarch64-parallels"
  shutdown_command       = "echo 'vagrant' | sudo -S /sbin/halt -h -p"
  shutdown_timeout       = "15"
  ssh_password           = "vagrant"
  ssh_port               = 22
  ssh_timeout            = "60m"
  ssh_username           = "vagrant"
  vm_name                = "almalinux-8.7-aarch64"
}

build {
  sources = source.parallels-iso.vm

  # Linux Shell scipts
  provisioner "shell" {
    environment_vars =  [
        "HOME_DIR=/home/vagrant",
        "http_proxy=${var.http_proxy}",
        "https_proxy=${var.https_proxy}",
        "no_proxy=${var.no_proxy}"
      ]
    execute_command = "echo 'vagrant' | {{ .Vars }} sudo -S -E sh -eux '{{ .Path }}'"
    expect_disconnect = true
    scripts           = local.scripts
  }

  # Convert machines to vagrant boxes
  post-processor "vagrant" {
    compression_level    = 9
    output               = "${path.root}/${var.os_name}-${var.os_version}-${var.os_arch}.{{ .Provider }}.box"
  }
}

[ksatirli]

Thanks for the additional context @Stromweld.

We don't test against self-hosted runners at this point, so this kind of input is useful.

You mention

Packer is also locally installed on the self-hosted runner through home brew and If I remove the setup-packer action step the build runs as expected. The same job setup is also done on an Intel Mac Mini without any issues.

I'm curious, what happens if you remove the Brew-provided version of Packer and use just setup-packer? Our action isn't necessarily meant to duplicate already installed software, and I'd guess that - depending on your system - the order of how you load $PATH and other parts of your environment, may affect the outcome here.

Also curious: For the brew version, are you pulling the upstream one or are you using https://github.com/hashicorp/homebrew-tap?

[Stromweld]

I am pulling the upstream packer with brew install. I'm currently running on self hosted runner for Arm CPU architecture builds via packer.

[ksatirli]

Hi @Stromweld,

upstream packer with brew install

The most upper part of this stream would be the HashiCorp-provided and signed pre-built packer binary. Can you confirm this is what you are using?

The version provided by Brew is compiled on your machine during install-time and isn't the same binary we offer.

That aside, if you want to help debug this issue, I'd like you to uninstall any brew-installed versions of packer and use just setup-packer.