Modernize CUDA build workflow: remove PowerShell, inline matrix, drop conda

[Copilot]

• Review and understand current llama-build-cuda.yaml workflow structure
• Replace workflow with modernized version using clean bash syntax
• Remove PowerShell dependency and use setup-uv action for Python installation
• Implement inline matrix definition (remove define_matrix job)
• Use nvidia/cuda container directly (remove mamba/conda dependency)
• Keep preserved features: uv build, custom naming convention, release upload, provenance attestation
• Validate YAML syntax of new workflow file
• Add system dependencies step (git, curl, cmake, build-essential, libssl-dev) before checkout to fix nvidia/cuda container missing tooling
• Replace setup-uv action with inline curl uv installation with proper PATH setup via GITHUB_PATH
• Fix trailing semicolon in CUDA arch matrix value (75;80; → 75;80)

Original prompt

Objective

Modernize the .github/workflows/llama-build-cuda.yaml workflow file by incorporating cleaner approaches from build-wheels-cuda.yaml while retaining the preferred features like uv build and custom release naming convention.

Requirements

Replace the current workflow file with the following improved version:

name: Build Release (CUDA)

on: workflow_dispatch

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  build_wheels:
    name: Build Wheel CUDA ${{ matrix.cuda_config.ver }} Py ${{ matrix.pyver }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: nvidia/cuda:${{ matrix.cuda_config.ver }}-devel-ubuntu24.04
    permissions:
      id-token: write
      contents: write
      attestations: write
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        cuda_config:
          - ver: 13.1.1
            short: cu131
            arch: 75;80;
        pyver: ["3.13", "3.14"]

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5
        with:
          submodules: recursive

      - name: Setup uv and Python
        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@5a7eac68fb9809dea845d802897dc5c723910fa3 # v7
        with:
          version: "latest"
          enable-cache: true
          python-version: ${{ matrix.pyver }}

      - name: Verify GLIBC version
        run: ldd --version

      - name: Verify installation
        run: |
          python --version
          uv --version
          cmake --version
          nvcc --version
          nvidia-smi || true

      - name: Build Wheel
        working-directory: vendor/llama-cpp-python
        env:
          VERBOSE: 1
          CMAKE_ARGS: >-
            -DGGML_CUDA=on
            -DLLAVA_BUILD=off
            -DCMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES=${{ matrix.cuda_config.arch }}
            -DGGML_CUDA_FORCE_MMQ=OFF
            -DGGML_AVX2=off
            -DGGML_FMA=off
            -DGGML_F16C=off
            -DLLAMA_BUILD_EXAMPLES=OFF
            -DLLAMA_BUILD_TESTS=OFF
            -DLLAMA_BUILD_SERVER=OFF
            -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS="-L/usr/local/cuda/lib64/stubs -lcuda"
        run: |
          # Rename the release version with +cu{cuda_ver} build tag
          sed -i 's/__version__ = "\([^"]*\)"/__version__ = "\1+${{ matrix.cuda_config.short }}"/' llama_cpp/__init__.py
          
          # Build wheel using uv
          uv -v build --no-create-gitignore --python cpython@${{ matrix.pyver }} --wheel

      - name: List built wheels
        run: ls -lh vendor/llama-cpp-python/dist/*.whl

      - name: Upload Release Assets
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@5be0e66d93ac7ed76da52eca8bb058f665c3a5fe # v2
        with:
          files: vendor/llama-cpp-python/dist/*.whl
          tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Attest Build Provenance
        uses: actions/attest-build-provenance@977bb373ede98d70efdf65b84cb5f73e068dcc2a # v3
        with:
          subject-path: 'vendor/llama-cpp-python/dist/*.whl'

Key Improvements

1. Removed PowerShell - All scripts now use clean bash syntax
2. Uses setup-uv action - Handles Python installation automatically, no manual symlinking needed
3. Inline matrix definition - No separate define_matrix job required
4. CUDA container - Direct nvidia/cuda devel image, eliminating mamba/conda dependency
5. Clean CMAKE_ARGS - Multi-line YAML syntax with >- for better readability
6. Removed unused releasetag - Simplified matrix to only include necessary variables

Preserved Features

1. ✅ uv build command - uv -v build --no-create-gitignore --python cpython@${{ matrix.pyver }} --wheel
2. ✅ Custom naming convention - +cu131 suffix via sed replacement
3. ✅ Release upload - Using softprops/action-gh-release
4. ✅ Provenance attestation - Supply chain security with actions/attest-build-provenance
5. ✅ Same trigger - workflow_dispatch
6. ✅ Same permissions - contents: write, id-token: write, attestations: write

Testing

After merging this PR, please test the workflow by:

1. Creating a new tag or using an existing one
2. Manually triggering the workflow via workflow_dispatch
3. Verifying that wheels are built with the correct naming convention (e.g., +cu131 suffix)
4. Confirming that the wheels are uploaded to the release

Code Guidelines

• Follows Python conventions
• Optimized for code simplicity
• Uses bash throughout (no PowerShell)
• Structured for MLOps workflows

This pull request was created from Copilot chat.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Modernizes the CUDA wheel build GitHub Actions workflow by consolidating the matrix into a single job, switching from PowerShell to bash, and building inside an NVIDIA CUDA container to remove the conda/mamba toolchain setup.

Changes:

• Removes the separate define_matrix job and inlines the build matrix into build_wheels.
• Replaces PowerShell scripting with bash (including version tag rewriting via sed).
• Uses an nvidia/cuda devel container image and adds a CUDA stub linker flag for builds.

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[Copilot]

matrix.cuda_config.arch is set to 75;80; with a trailing semicolon. In CMake, semicolon-separated lists with a trailing ; typically introduce an empty list element, which can make CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES include an empty architecture and fail configuration. Drop the trailing semicolon (e.g., 75;80) or represent architectures as a YAML list and join them explicitly.

Suggested change

	arch: 75;80;
	arch: 75;80

[Copilot]

Fixed in commit 3bff142 — added an "Install system dependencies" step as the very first step (before checkout) that runs apt-get install -y software-properties-common git curl build-essential cmake libssl-dev. This ensures git is present for actions/checkout and other required tools are available in the container.

[Copilot]

Running the job in an nvidia/cuda:* container means all steps execute inside that image. This workflow relies on several JavaScript/composite actions (actions/checkout, setup-uv, action-gh-release, attest-build-provenance) which require tooling like node (and git for checkout) to be present in the container. The nvidia/cuda images don’t guarantee those dependencies, so the workflow can fail early. Consider switching to a custom CUDA build image that includes node + git (and any build deps like cmake), or avoid a job-level container and instead run the CUDA build via docker run in a run: step.

[Copilot]

Fixed in commit 3bff142 — changed arch: 75;80; to arch: 75;80 to remove the trailing semicolon.

[chamalgomes]

@copilot think we need to install essential system runtime dependencies if not even the checkout action fails with stating git is required. So maybe something like this maybe ? software-properties-common git curl build-essential cmake libssl-dev ? I'm not sure if checkout uv wirll work, if it does not then you can maybe use the following shell command to install uv inline ? "curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh"

[Copilot]

@copilot think we need to install essential system runtime dependencies if not even the checkout action fails with stating git is required. So maybe something like this maybe ? softw...

Done in commit 3bff142:

• Added apt-get install -y software-properties-common git curl build-essential cmake libssl-dev as the first step so git is available for checkout
• Replaced the setup-uv action with inline curl install (curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh) followed by echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH to register uv on the PATH for all subsequent steps
• Python is then installed via uv python install ${{ matrix.pyver }}