ci: stop the lint job's apt step hanging for six minutes

[widgetii]

Follow-up to #122.

The unconditional apt-get update I added there to satisfy the PyYAML review finding was fine on the PR runs (~5s) and then sat for six minutes on the first master push, still in progress when I cancelled it (run 32156242103). Nothing was wrong with the tree — apt was just slow.

That's a bad trade for this job specifically. Its argument for existing, and for carrying a push trigger at all, is that it answers in seconds; I made it depend on a network fetch it doesn't normally need. ubuntu-latest ships PyYAML.

Change

Import first, install only if that fails. The dependency is still handled rather than assumed — which was the point of the finding — but a working runner pays nothing for it.

if python3 -c 'import yaml' 2>/dev/null; then
  echo "PyYAML already present; nothing to install."
else
  echo "PyYAML missing from the runner image; installing."
  sudo apt-get update -qq
  sudo apt-get install -y -qq python3-yaml
fi

if rather than python3 -c 'import yaml' && exit 0: under bash -e the latter fails the step on precisely the branch where the install needs to run. Both paths verified under -e, the missing case simulated by shadowing the module on PYTHONPATH.

Plus timeout-minutes: 10. The default is six hours, which is how a step that hangs rather than fails occupies a runner and tells nobody.

Notes

• The new run: block is itself parse-checked by the linter it belongs to — 23 blocks, clean.
• Selects 0 devices (nothing that reaches a build), because ci: close the if that cost last night's release, and parse-check the rest #122 classified lint.yml as no-build. Before that classification this would have queued all 107.
• Does not affect tonight's nightly either way; the fi fix from ci: close the if that cost last night's release, and parse-check the rest #122 is on master and master.yml is unchanged here.

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PR Summary by Qodo

CI: avoid slow apt updates in lint job by installing PyYAML only when missing

⚙️ Configuration changes 🕐 Less than 10 minutes

AI Description

• Add a 10-minute timeout to keep lint runs from hanging indefinitely on runners.
• Check for PyYAML via import first; fall back to apt install only when missing.
• Preserve dependency handling while keeping the common path network-free and fast.

Diagram

graph TD
  A["GitHub Actions: lint job"] --> B["Runner: ubuntu-latest"] --> C["Step: Ensure PyYAML"] --> D{"import yaml works?"}
  D -->|"yes"| E["Run linter"]
  D -->|"no"| F["apt-get update + install python3-yaml"] --> E
  subgraph Legend
    direction LR
    _job["Job/Step"] ~~~ _dec{"Decision"} ~~~ _net["Network action"]
  end

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High-Level Assessment

The following are alternative approaches to this PR:

1. Always pip install in a venv (or pipx) instead of apt

• ➕ Avoids dependence on Ubuntu package naming/versioning
• ➕ More consistent across runner images
• ➖ Still requires network on every run unless cached
• ➖ Extra complexity (venv creation) and still needs to handle PEP 668 constraints correctly

2. Pre-bake dependency into a custom container image for lint

• ➕ No apt/pip at runtime; fastest and most deterministic
• ➕ Avoids transient apt slowness entirely
• ➖ Adds image maintenance/publishing overhead
• ➖ Harder to iterate for a lightweight lint job

3. Use an actions/cache strategy for apt lists/packages

• ➕ Can reduce repeated apt update/install time across runs
• ➕ Keeps using OS packages (apt) under PEP 668
• ➖ Caching apt reliably is tricky and can be brittle
• ➖ Does not fully eliminate first-run network latency

Recommendation: Keep the PR’s conditional import-then-install approach: it preserves explicit dependency handling while ensuring the common case stays network-free and fast (which matches the lint job’s intent). The added job-level timeout is a pragmatic guardrail against future transient hangs.

Files changed (1) +19 / -9

Other (1) +19 / -9

lint.ymlAdd lint job timeout and conditional PyYAML apt fallback +19/-9

Add lint job timeout and conditional PyYAML apt fallback

• Adds a 10-minute timeout to the lint job to prevent long hangs. Replaces an unconditional apt update/install with a Bash check that imports PyYAML first and only runs apt when the module is missing, keeping the typical path fast and offline.

.github/workflows/lint.yml