We are experiencing inconsistent test case execution times while using GitHub Actions runners with different Ubuntu images. Below are the details:

[dhananjay-quivo]

Description

Pipeline Overview:

Application: Java-based.
Build Tool: Maven.
Testing: Test cases run before deployment to ensure stability.
Deployment: Application is deployed using GitHub Actions.
Error Observed:

"The job running on runner GitHub Actions 42 has exceeded the maximum execution time of 15 minutes."

Timeline:

- Initial State:
Runner Image: ubuntu-22.04 (version 20240714.1.0).
Test cases completed in 9 minutes.

- Issue Observed:
Runner Image updated to ubuntu-22.04 (version 20240721.1.0).
Test case execution time increased to 15+ minutes, causing pipeline failures.

- Temporary Fix:
Added alphabetical to pom.xml, which resolved the issue, reducing the time back to < 15 minutes. However, the root cause remains unknown.

- Subsequent Runner Update:
Runner Image: ubuntu-22.04 (version 20241112.1.0).
Removed alphabetical as tests again started completing in 9 minutes.

- Current Issue:
Migrated to ubuntu-24.04 (version 20241201.1.0).
Test case execution time increased again to 15+ minutes, causing failures.

- Test Configuration:

alphabetical classes 2 0 false Adding alphabetical temporarily resolved the issue but its actual impact is unclear.

- Observations:
The issue correlates with changes in GitHub runner image versions.
Execution time changes drastically depending on the runner version.

- Questions:

Why does adding alphabetical reduce execution time?
What changes in the runner images are potentially affecting Maven's performance?
Why does the execution time vary significantly with different runner versions?

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

ubuntu-22.04 (version 20240721.1.0).
ubuntu-24.04 version.

Is it regression?

No

Expected behavior

Test case should be run without this configuration.

alphabetical

Actual behavior

we are continuing to observe variance in behavior when executing workflows on GitHub-hosted runners. Specifically, the test case execution time fluctuates based on the runner image version in use.

Repro steps

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Run the test cases using the ubuntu-22.04 runner (version 20240714.1.0) and observe 9 minutes execution time.
2. Run the same test cases using the ubuntu-22.04 runner (version 20240721.1.0) and observe 15+ minutes execution time.
3. Add alphabetical to the pom.xml and rerun with version 20240721.1.0, and observe the reduced execution time.
4. Remove alphabetical and test with ubuntu-24.04 (version 20241201.1.0) to observe the issue reoccurring.

[kishorekumar-anchala]

Hi @dhananjay-quivo - Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigating.

[Prabhatkumar59]

Hi @dhananjay-quivo - In meantime, could you please provide your build and repro links so that we can debug more into this.
Also, we request you to update your sync process and try with latest Ubuntu 22.04 image version 20250323.1.0. And let us know if you encounter any further issues. Thanks!