Github Actions: No such file or Directory error - windows

Question

Background
I am trying to get a Github Action working with Windows and Bakeware because I am trying to create a release using it.
However, I am having an unexpected issue with creating folders.
Code
Following is a github action that is a Minimal Working Example of the issue.
Basically, all steps work, except for the creation of a single folder:
name: build
env:
MIX_ENV: test
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
on:
push:
branches: [ master ]
pull_request:
branches: [ master ]
jobs:
build:
name: Build on Windows
runs-on: windows-2019
env:
CC: gcc
MAKE: make
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- uses: erlef/setup-beam#v1
with:
elixir-version: '1.13.x' # Define the elixir version [required]
otp-version: '24.2.x' # Define the OTP version [required]
- name: Install choco
shell: powershell
run: |
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
- name: Install bakeware dependencies
shell: powershell
run: choco install -y zstandard make
- name: Install Dependencies
shell: powershell
run: mix deps.get
- name: Run credo code analyser
shell: powershell
run: mix credo --strict
I am even using powershell to do it (even though I am not really sure if this is needed).
Problem
However my GitHub Actions code comes back with this error:
==> bakeware
mkdir "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj"
mkdir "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/launcher"
mkdir "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress"
mkdir: cannot create directory 'd:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress': No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:70: d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress] Error 1
could not compile dependency :bakeware, "mix compile" failed. Errors may have been logged above. You can recompile this dependency with "mix deps.compile bakeware", update it with "mix deps.update bakeware" or clean it with "mix deps.clean bakeware"
** (Mix) Could not compile with "make" (exit status: 2).
For the careful reader, you will notice the part saying:
mkdir: cannot create directory 'd:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress': No such file or directory
Research
By changing the GitHub Action a little and adding an additional step, I was able to inspect some behaviour:
- name: Compile everything
shell: powershell
run: |
mkdir "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj"
mkdir "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/launcher"
mkdir "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress"
ls .\_build\test\lib\bakeware\obj\zstd\lib\decompress
Test-Path -Path "d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress"
mix deps.compile --all
mix compile
env:
CC: C:\ProgramData\Chocolatey\bin\gcc.exe
MAKE: C:\ProgramData\Chocolatey\bin\make.exe
In this snippet I manually create the needed folders and then I assert on them. The output is as follows:
Directory: D:\a\market_manager\market_manager\_build\test\lib\bakeware
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d----- 2/2/2022 11:06 AM obj
d----- 2/2/2022 11:06 AM launcher
Directory: D:\a\market_manager\market_manager\_build\test\lib\bakeware\obj\zstd\lib
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d----- 2/2/2022 11:06 AM decompress
True
We can see that:
All directories are created
Test-Path returns True, which means that 'd:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress' does exist.
This only makes things more confusing to me as the error has still not changed:
mkdir: cannot create directory 'd:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress': No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:70: d:/a/market_manager/market_manager/_build/test/lib/bakeware/obj/zstd/lib/decompress] Error 1
could not compile dependency :bakeware, "mix compile" failed. Errors may have been logged above. You can recompile this dependency with "mix deps.compile bakeware", update it with "mix deps.update bakeware" or clean it with "mix deps.clean bakeware"
** (Mix) Could not compile with "C:\ProgramData\Chocolatey\bin\make.exe" (exit status: 2).
I really can't understand the error No such file or directory when every command I used shows beyond reasonable doubt that the folder does exist.
Question
Why do I keep getting this error?

Answer 1

Answer
After smashing my head against a wall for several days, I think I finally figured it out.
The command was failing because of how cmd mkdir behaves, in that, it behaves different from the one in poewrshell.
By changing the Makefile to only create folders if they don't exist already, I was able to fix the issue while still mantaining backwards compatibility, which was one of my requirements.
I have submitted a PR with this fix and at the time of this writing, I am happy to announce it was already merged into master:
https://github.com/bake-bake-bake/bakeware/pull/128