[error]An error occurred trying to start process '/home/vsts/actions-runner/cached/externals/node20_1/bin/node' with working directory '/home/vsts/work/1/s'. Argument list too long

[ryenus]

This happened when certain variable(s) set in previous steps might hold very long string data:

echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=some_var;issecret=true;isOutput=true]very_very_long_string"

When performing variables substitution in the bash script to be executed, it seems ADO the variables values would be passed as command line arguments, then if the variable values hold long strings, the resulting command would exceed the OS limit, hence causing such Argument list too long error.

Please consider using a temporary file to hold the variable values, at least when dealing with large volume data.

==============================================================================
Task         : Bash
Description  : Run a Bash script on macOS, Linux, or Windows
Version      : 3.259.0
Author       : Microsoft Corporation
Help         : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/utility/bash
==============================================================================
##[debug]Using node path: /home/vsts/actions-runner/cached/externals/node20_1/bin/node
##[error]An error occurred trying to start process '/home/vsts/actions-runner/cached/externals/node20_1/bin/node' with working directory '/home/vsts/work/1/s'. Argument list too long
##[debug]System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (7): An error occurred trying to start process '/home/vsts/actions-runner/cached/externals/node20_1/bin/node' with working directory '/home/vsts/work/1/s'. Argument list too long
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.ForkAndExecProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo, String resolvedFilename, String[] argv, String[] envp, String cwd, Boolean setCredentials, UInt32 userId, UInt32 groupId, UInt32[] groups, Int32& stdinFd, Int32& stdoutFd, Int32& stderrFd, Boolean usesTerminal, Boolean throwOnNoExec)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartCore(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Util.ProcessInvoker.ExecuteAsync(String workingDirectory, String fileName, String arguments, IDictionary`2 environment, Boolean requireExitCodeZero, Encoding outputEncoding, Boolean killProcessOnCancel, InputQueue`1 redirectStandardIn, Boolean inheritConsoleHandler, Boolean keepStandardInOpen, Boolean highPriorityProcess, Boolean continueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Sdk/ProcessInvoker.cs:line 299
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.ProcessInvokerWrapper.ExecuteAsync(String workingDirectory, String fileName, String arguments, IDictionary`2 environment, Boolean requireExitCodeZero, Encoding outputEncoding, Boolean killProcessOnCancel, InputQueue`1 redirectStandardIn, Boolean inheritConsoleHandler, Boolean keepStandardInOpen, Boolean highPriorityProcess, Boolean continueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent/ProcessInvoker.cs:line 329
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.Handlers.DefaultStepHost.ExecuteAsync(String workingDirectory, String fileName, String arguments, IDictionary`2 environment, Boolean requireExitCodeZero, Encoding outputEncoding, Boolean killProcessOnCancel, Boolean inheritConsoleHandler, Boolean continueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt, TimeSpan sigintTimeout, TimeSpan sigtermTimeout, Boolean useGracefulShutdown, CancellationToken cancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/Handlers/StepHost.cs:line 85
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.Handlers.NodeHandler.RunAsync() in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/Handlers/NodeHandler.cs:line 284
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.TaskRunner.RunAsyncInternal() in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/TaskRunner.cs:line 447
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.TaskRunner.RunAsync() in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/TaskRunner.cs:line 76
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Services.Agent.Worker.StepsRunner.RunStepAsync(IStep step, CancellationToken jobCancellationToken) in /mnt/vss/_work/1/s/src/Agent.Worker/StepsRunner.cs:line 264