Rails DB Timeout Error: Too long with no output (exceeded 10m0s) when using set_config.

Overview

When using rails, if you use a DB load on one of the commands that are run as part of the command for set_config [enter key press] this will not be handled correctly by less.

Cause

The default environment variable for PAGER is less, the issues are caused by less not handling the output correctly as it outputs as set_config ;0;0t the section ;0;0t should be interpreted as an enter key press but it is treated as text so the system does not continue.

As CircleCI is set to stop when no output is seen for 10 minutes by default, the error seen is: Error: Too long with no output (exceeded 10m0s) as the output was waiting for user input.

Resolution

To be able to resolve this, you can override the program being used by PAGER using the code snippet given below:

jobs:
    build:
        docker:
          - image: MY_APP_IMAGE
            environment:
              PAGER: cat

Once this has been set the enter keypress is handled correctly and the config is able to complete without hanging.