# Github actions ubuntu-latest no longer installs gold

**URL:** <https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [November 12, 2026, 5:13am UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060 "2026-11-12T05:13:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![brandonchinn178](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/brandonchinn178/32/5103_2.png) [@brandonchinn178](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/brandonchinn178)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 5:13am UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/1 "2026-11-12T05:13:36Z")

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ubuntu-latest has switched from ubuntu-24.04 to ubuntu-26.04. It seems like in this switch, gold is no longer installed.

Cabal has [an issue](https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/12525) for this for their CI, and @Bodigrim says it’s fixed for GHC 9.6+, but I see it when building with Stack + GHC 9.12:

> <https://github.com/fourmolu/fourmolu/actions/runs/42557862070/job/128967508102>

Is there a broader ecosystem fix? Is it just because of Stack? Are ghcup or haskell-actions/setup affected?

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**Author:** ![L0neGamer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/l0negamer/32/4536_2.png) [@L0neGamer](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/L0neGamer)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/3 "2026-11-12T11:42:47Z")

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We’ve had this issue recently on our older GHC CI in discord-haskell; see @yutotakano’s PR: [Fix CI not finding gold linker in latest Ubuntu by yutotakano · Pull Request #267 · discord-haskell/discord-haskell · GitHub](https://github.com/discord-haskell/discord-haskell/pull/267)

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**Author:** ![janus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/janus/32/1060_2.png) [@janus](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/janus)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/4 "2026-11-12T16:38:49Z")

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> [@brandonchinn178](#):
>
> Is there a broader ecosystem fix? Is it just because of Stack?

It’s a [bug in the GHC 9.4 series](https://gitlab.haskell.org/ghc/ghc/-/work_items/26520). So no, it’s not just because of Stack.

> [@](#):
>
> Are ghcup or haskell-actions/setup affected?

Yes, which is why this is unfortunate. Right now, everybody has to work around it. GHC won’t release a patch since they don’t patch old releases. haskell-actions wouldn’t address it either, since they just install using ghcup.

That’s why I asked @hasufell on the GHC issue if he’d be open to have GHCup patch the bug in the released GHC package. It’s in a script, not a binary, so it is relatively straight forward.

I see proposals in Servant and cabal to just drop the old compiler. That is of course an option, but if GHCup offers installation of something (even if it is old), wouldn’t it be nice if it just worked? What is the point of offering it if it won’t work?

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**Author:** ![brandonchinn178](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/brandonchinn178/32/5103_2.png) [@brandonchinn178](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/brandonchinn178)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/5 "2026-11-12T16:57:22Z")

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I’m seeing the error in 9.12. Does your comment still apply?

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**Author:** ![janus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/janus/32/1060_2.png) [@janus](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/janus)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 5:03pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/6 "2026-11-12T17:03:04Z")

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Oh, you might have a separate issue. It looks like you are not including the Ubuntu version in the cache key. Have you checked whether the issue is solved if you try without the cache? I am worried that you’re taking a cache from when you had gold, and using it when gold is gone.

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**Author:** ![brandonchinn178](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/brandonchinn178/32/5103_2.png) [@brandonchinn178](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/brandonchinn178)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/7 "2026-11-12T17:22:14Z")

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ah good idea. I’ll try that later

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**Author:** ![arybczak](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.haskell.org/arybczak/32/2527_2.png) [@arybczak](https://discourse.haskell.org/u/arybczak)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2026, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.haskell.org/t/github-actions-ubuntu-latest-no-longer-installs-gold/15060/8 "2026-11-12T17:36:21Z")

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I’ve been using ubuntu-26.04 in GHA for Haskell for some time and the solution for GHC \< 9.6 is to just `apt-get install binutils-gold`.