self-hosted mac runner fails when Create additional symlinks

[deanjingshui]

Description:
I'm experiencing a permission error when using the setup-python GitHub Action. The error occurs when the action attempts to create additional symlinks, specifically for Python version 3.13.2. The error message is:

Create additional symlinks (Required for the UsePythonVersion Azure Pipelines task and the setup-python GitHub Action)
Error: ln: python313: Permission denied
Error: The process '/bin/bash' failed with exit code 1

The issue seems to be related to insufficient permissions for the runner user to create symlinks in the target directory. However, the log does not specify the exact path where the symlinks are being created.

I have checked the permissions of the target directory and ensured that the runner user has write access. However, the issue persists.
Could you please clarify what the default path is for creating these symlinks? Knowing this will help me check the permissions for that specific directory.

Action version:
v5

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• [✅] macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• [✅] Self-hosted

Tools version:

python 3.13

Repro steps:

jobs:
  build-and-upload:
    runs-on: my-darwin-runner
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Python Setup
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.13'

Expected behavior:
The action should successfully create symlinks without encountering permission errors.

Actual behavior:
the full log is:

Installed versions
Version 3.13 was not found in the local cache
Version 3.13 is available for downloading
Download from "https://github.com/actions/python-versions/releases/download/3.13.2-1314[9](https://github.com/lynx-infra/lynx-devtool/actions/runs/13539602101/job/37838858766#step:3:10)511920/python-3.13.2-darwin-arm64.tar.gz"
Extract downloaded archive
/usr/bin/tar xz -C /Users/runner/_work/_temp/b2fdb697-5abd-43ca-806c-101fcd6ddad1 -f /Users/runner/_work/_temp/7bfd7998-47cd-4957-bbd7-a73de281d037
Execute installation script
Check if Python hostedtoolcache folder exist...
Creating Python hostedtoolcache folder...
Install Python binaries from prebuilt package
installer: Package name is Python
installer: Installing at base path /
installer: The install was successful.
Create hostedtoolcach symlinks (Required for the backward compatibility)
Create Python 3.13.2 folder
Create additional symlinks (Required for the UsePythonVersion Azure Pipelines task and the setup-python GitHub Action)
Error: ln: python313: Permission denied
Error: The process '/bin/bash' failed with exit code 1

[priyagupta108]

Hi @deanjingshui 👋,
Thank you for reporting this issue. We will investigate it and get back to you as soon as we have some feedback.