Input 'submodules' not supported when falling back to download using the GitHub REST API with standard setup

[kbegiedza]

I'm using standard hosted runner with standard actions/checkout@v3, but action is unable to checkout & pull my public repo submodule.
When I executed my pipeline I got:
Error: Input 'submodules' not supported when falling back to download using the GitHub REST API. To create a local Git repository instead, add Git 2.18 or higher to the PATH.

It's pretty weird that I'm using ubuntu-latest (20.04) and don't have Git >= 2.18 in PATH.

my pipeline:

jobs:
  build-and-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container: ghcr.io/kbegiedza/cuda:11.6.0-sdk

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        submodule: recursive

    - name: Configure CMake
      run: cmake -B ${{github.workspace}}/build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${{env.BUILD_TYPE}}

    - name: Build
      run: cmake --build ${{github.workspace}}/build --config ${{env.BUILD_TYPE}}

    - name: Test
      working-directory: ${{github.workspace}}/build
      run: ctest -C ${{env.BUILD_TYPE}}

[kbegiedza]

I can see that ubuntu-latest (now 20.04) have installed proper version of git:

https://github.com/actions/virtual-environments/blob/main/images/linux/Ubuntu2004-Readme.md#tools

[kbegiedza]

Added below step as workaround:

    - name: Checkout submodules
      run: |
        git submodule update --init --recursive

[nafg]

I'm getting this error on windows-latest -- https://github.com/slick/slick/actions/runs/2563233013

[RunningLeon]

same issue met in ubuntu18.04 and ubuntu 20.04

[andersonjwan]

Same issue here! This is my step that fails:

- name: Checkout
  uses: actions/checkout@v3
  with:
     submodules: true

[joshuaVayer]

In my case, the mistake was caused because I was using the PATH environment variable. The issue was resolved by simply renaming my variable. Hope this help.

Errored :

env: 
  PATH: "root/directory"

Working :

env: 
  ANOTHER_PATH: "root/directory"

[andersonjwan]

Same issue here! This is my step that fails:

- name: Checkout
  uses: actions/checkout@v3
  with:
     submodules: true

I've appeared to have indirectly fixed the issue. For those that are using a separate container/image for the job run, you must ensure your image has Git v2.18+ installed; otherwise, you will receive the issues I've faced.

Here is a complete example:

jobs:
  example:
    name: Example Job
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container: <image with Git v2.18+ installed>
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          submodules: true

[zccrs]

You need to install the "git > 2.18" in the "ghcr.io/kbegiedza/cuda:11.6.0-sdk" container before actions/checkout@v3

[bowenzhang23]

I just faced the same issue recently.

Thanks to the suggestions of the latest posts, I have solved it as follows.

runs-on: ubuntu-latest
container:
  image: <your_image>

steps:
- name: Install git on container
  run: |
    apt update
    apt install -y git

- uses: actions/checkout@v3
  with:
    submodules: true