Unhelpful error message when desired working directory does not exist

[xpdota]

I was using this:

      - name: Build deps
        uses: gabrielbb/[email protected]
        with:
          run: mvn -T4 clean install -DskipTests
          working-directory: ./triggevent-base

I was getting this error:

Run gabrielbb/[email protected]
  with:
    run: mvn -T4 clean install -DskipTests
    working-directory: ./triggevent-base
  env:
    JAVA_HOME: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk/17.0.4-1/x64
    JAVA_HOME_17_X64: /opt/hostedtoolcache/Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk/17.0.4-1/x64
/usr/bin/sudo apt-get install -y xvfb
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
xvfb is already the newest version 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.2).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 14 not upgraded.
Command: mvn -T4 clean install -DskipTests
/usr/bin/xvfb-run --auto-servernum mvn -T4 clean install -DskipTests
/usr/bin/bash /home/runner/work/_actions/gabrielbb/xvfb-action/v1.6/cleanup.sh
No xvfb processes to kill
Error: There was an error when attempting to execute the process '/usr/bin/xvfb-run'. This may indicate the process failed to start. Error: spawn /usr/bin/xvfb-run ENOENT

This is running on the Github-hosted Ubuntu 22.04 image.

It turned out that the step just before this was deleting the desired working directory for some reason - however, the actual error message (Error: spawn /usr/bin/xvfb-run ENOENT) is not helpful for diagnosing this issue.

[LeKristapino]

Maybe try working-directory: ${{github.workspace}}/triggevent-base instead of relative path.

[xpdota]

I actually ended up figuring it out - not sure why, but a previous step was deleting the directory in question.

I'll change the bug accordingly.

[LeKristapino]

Looking at the action, the error seems to come from the xvfb library itself, so it might be very hard to output the exact nature of the problem (like a missing directory). Unless you add a check whether the working directory is actually in place.