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fix: Update a3m and a3u script to resolve slurm nccl test failure#5308

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agrawalkhushi18 merged 7 commits intoGoogleCloudPlatform:release-candidatefrom
agrawalkhushi18:rc-enrootfix2
Mar 4, 2026
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fix: Update a3m and a3u script to resolve slurm nccl test failure#5308
agrawalkhushi18 merged 7 commits intoGoogleCloudPlatform:release-candidatefrom
agrawalkhushi18:rc-enrootfix2

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@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 commented Mar 4, 2026 •
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This PR resolves the error encountered while running NCCL test for a3 machines:
Error encountered in the NCCL tests:
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/run/enroot’: Permission denied

Fix:
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is a standard Linux environment variable defined by the XDG Base Directory Specification. It points to a directory specific to the logged-in user for storing small, temporary runtime files. Enroot uses this variable to determine where to create its workspace. If it's unset, Enroot falls back to a hardcoded system path (/run) which causes the crash.
We are resolving the Permission denied error by manually setting the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR environment variable to a user-specific, world-writable directory in /tmp (e.g., /tmp/enroot-runtime-$(id -u)). This ensures enroot uses a safe, writable workspace instead of defaulting to the restricted, root-owned /run/enroot path

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  • Test all changes with pre-commit in a local branch #
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gemini-code-assist bot commented Mar 4, 2026

Summary of Changes

Hello, I'm Gemini Code Assist1! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request addresses an issue with enroot container imports in non-interactive shell environments by providing a more resilient way to set the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR. It also updates the automated testing infrastructure to validate these changes by pulling from a specific development branch, ensuring the fix is properly integrated and tested within the existing workflows.

Highlights

  • Enroot Runtime Directory Fix: Implemented a robust fix for enroot container imports by ensuring XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is properly set. The script now checks if the variable is unset and attempts to create a user-specific runtime directory, falling back to a writable /tmp location if necessary, which is crucial for non-interactive shell environments.
  • NCCL Test Script Update: Modified the test-nccl.yml Ansible playbook to clone the cluster-toolkit repository from the author's fork (agrawalkhushi18) and checkout a specific branch (rc-enrootfix2). This change facilitates testing of the enroot fix within the continuous integration pipeline.
Changelog
  • examples/machine-learning/a3-megagpu-8g/nccl-tests/import_pytorch_container.sh
    • Added logic to dynamically set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR for enroot operations, including a fallback to /tmp if the default user runtime directory is unavailable.
  • examples/machine-learning/a3-ultragpu-8g/nccl-tests/import_pytorch_container.sh
    • Incorporated logic to dynamically set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR for enroot operations, providing a fallback mechanism to /tmp for non-interactive shells.
  • tools/cloud-build/daily-tests/ansible_playbooks/test-validation/test-nccl.yml
    • Updated the git clone command to fetch the cluster-toolkit repository from the author's fork.
    • Added a git checkout command to switch to the rc-enrootfix2 branch for testing purposes.
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Code Review

This pull request adds a workaround for enroot in non-interactive shells where XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set. However, it introduces a critical security vulnerability in the import_pytorch_container.sh scripts. The scripts set up a fallback XDG_RUNTIME_DIR in /tmp using a predictable path and insecure permissions (sudo chmod a+rw), which is highly susceptible to symlink attacks leading to local privilege escalation to root. Furthermore, the test-nccl.yml configuration was modified to use a personal fork and branch, which must be reverted. The new logic is also duplicated across two separate scripts, and it would be better to centralize it in a shared script to improve maintainability.

@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 changed the title fix2: Update the the script and nccl test file fix: Update a3m and a3u script to resolve nccl test failure Mar 4, 2026
@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 changed the title fix: Update a3m and a3u script to resolve nccl test failure fix: Update a3m and a3u script to resolve slurm nccl test failure Mar 4, 2026
@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 added the release-bugfix Added to release notes under the "Bug fixes" heading. label Mar 4, 2026
@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 requested a review from gokamesh March 4, 2026 11:12
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agrawalkhushi18 commented Mar 4, 2026

The PR tests have passed for A3M and A3U:
PR-test-ml-a3-ultragpu-onspot-slurm
PR-test-ml-a3-megagpu-slurm-ubuntu

@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 marked this pull request as ready for review March 4, 2026 11:31
@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 requested review from a team and samskillman as code owners March 4, 2026 11:31
gokamesh
gokamesh previously approved these changes Mar 4, 2026
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agrawalkhushi18 commented Mar 4, 2026

PR tests for a3m and a3u are successful after modifications to the commands:

  1. A3M

  2. A3U-onspot

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agrawalkhushi18 commented Mar 4, 2026

We need to modify the git clone path in test-nccl.yml from main to current branch in order to test out our changes. So, reverted those changes in order to finalise the release to main. Ideally the recent working branch changes should be taken into account. That effort is being tracked under a separate ticket.

@agrawalkhushi18 agrawalkhushi18 merged commit 8eb5de0 into GoogleCloudPlatform:release-candidate Mar 4, 2026
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@gokamesh gokamesh gokamesh approved these changes

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release-bugfix Added to release notes under the "Bug fixes" heading.

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