Revert "Prefer gtar if available"

Author: henrymercer

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ See the [releases page](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/releases) for th
 
 ## [UNRELEASED]
 
-- Update the action to prefer `gtar` over `tar` to make zstd archive extraction more robust. [2767](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/pull/2767)
+No user facing changes.
 
 ## 3.28.9 - 07 Feb 2025
 

lib/tar.js

@@ -15,13 +15,12 @@ const MIN_REQUIRED_BSD_TAR_VERSION = "3.4.3";
 const MIN_REQUIRED_GNU_TAR_VERSION = "1.31";
 
 export type TarVersion = {
-  name: string;
   type: "gnu" | "bsd";
   version: string;
 };
 
-async function getTarVersion(programName: string): Promise<TarVersion> {
-  const tar = await io.which(programName, true);
+async function getTarVersion(): Promise<TarVersion> {
+  const tar = await io.which("tar", true);
   let stdout = "";
   const exitCode = await new ToolRunner(tar, ["--version"], {
     listeners: {
@@ -31,43 +30,28 @@ async function getTarVersion(programName: string): Promise<TarVersion> {
     },
   }).exec();
   if (exitCode !== 0) {
-    throw new Error(`Failed to call ${programName} --version`);
+    throw new Error("Failed to call tar --version");
   }
   // Return whether this is GNU tar or BSD tar, and the version number
   if (stdout.includes("GNU tar")) {
     const match = stdout.match(/tar \(GNU tar\) ([0-9.]+)/);
     if (!match || !match[1]) {
-      throw new Error(`Failed to parse output of ${programName} --version.`);
+      throw new Error("Failed to parse output of tar --version.");
     }
 
-    return { name: programName, type: "gnu", version: match[1] };
+    return { type: "gnu", version: match[1] };
   } else if (stdout.includes("bsdtar")) {
     const match = stdout.match(/bsdtar ([0-9.]+)/);
     if (!match || !match[1]) {
-      throw new Error(`Failed to parse output of ${programName} --version.`);
+      throw new Error("Failed to parse output of tar --version.");
     }
 
-    return { name: programName, type: "bsd", version: match[1] };
+    return { type: "bsd", version: match[1] };
   } else {
     throw new Error("Unknown tar version");
   }
 }
 
-async function pickTarCommand(): Promise<TarVersion> {
-  // bsdtar 3.5.3 on the macos-14 (arm) action runner image is prone to crash with the following
-  // error messages when extracting zstd archives:
-  //
-  //   tar: Child process exited with status 1
-  //   tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors.
-  //
-  // To avoid this problem, prefer GNU tar under the name "gtar" if it is available.
-  try {
-    return await getTarVersion("gtar");
-  } catch {
-    return await getTarVersion("tar");
-  }
-}
-
 export interface ZstdAvailability {
   available: boolean;
   foundZstdBinary: boolean;
@@ -79,7 +63,7 @@ export async function isZstdAvailable(
 ): Promise<ZstdAvailability> {
   const foundZstdBinary = await isBinaryAccessible("zstd", logger);
   try {
-    const tarVersion = await pickTarCommand();
+    const tarVersion = await getTarVersion();
     const { type, version } = tarVersion;
     logger.info(`Found ${type} tar version ${version}.`);
     switch (type) {
@@ -178,10 +162,10 @@ export async function extractTarZst(
 
     args.push("-f", tar instanceof stream.Readable ? "-" : tar, "-C", dest);
 
-    process.stdout.write(`[command]${tarVersion.name} ${args.join(" ")}\n`);
+    process.stdout.write(`[command]tar ${args.join(" ")}\n`);
 
     await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
-      const tarProcess = spawn(tarVersion.name, args, { stdio: "pipe" });
+      const tarProcess = spawn("tar", args, { stdio: "pipe" });
 
       let stdout = "";
       tarProcess.stdout?.on("data", (data: Buffer) => {
@@ -212,7 +196,7 @@ export async function extractTarZst(
         if (code !== 0) {
           reject(
             new CommandInvocationError(
-              tarVersion.name,
+              "tar",
               args,
               code ?? undefined,
               stdout,