[Actions] Resolve ocassional errors from the package install step, optimize the process

.github/workflows/Linux build template.yml

@@ -16,22 +16,49 @@ jobs:
 # ----- Packages & artifacts -----
     name: Build type - ${{matrix.build_type}}${{matrix.architecture == '32' && ' x86' || ''}}
     steps:
-    - name: Install necessary packages
-      uses: nick-fields/retry@v3
-      with:
-        timeout_minutes: 10
-        max_attempts: 10
-        command: |
-          sudo gem install apt-spy2
-          sudo apt-spy2 fix --commit --launchpad --country=US
-          echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy main universe restricted multiverse" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
-          echo "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates main universe restricted multiverse" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
-          sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
-          sudo apt-get update
-          sudo apt install python3-pip build-essential cmake ninja-build libusb-1.0-0-dev ${{matrix.architecture == '32' && 'zlib1g-dev:i386 libssl-dev:i386 gcc-13-multilib g++-13-multilib' || 'zlib1g-dev libssl-dev'}}
-          python3 -m venv venv
-          source venv/bin/activate
-          pip install jsonref
+    - name: Prepare apt (add i386 if needed)
+      if: ${{ matrix.architecture == '32' }}
+      run: |
+        sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
+
+    - name: Update apt indices (with retries)
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        set -euo pipefail
+        for attempt in {1..5}; do
+          if sudo apt-get update -o Acquire::Retries=5 -o Acquire::http::Timeout=30; then
+            break
+          fi
+          echo "apt-get update failed (attempt $attempt), retrying..."
+          sleep $((attempt*10))
+        done
+
+    - name: Install system dependencies
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        set -euo pipefail
+        export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+        PKGS="python3-venv python3-pip build-essential cmake ninja-build libusb-1.0-0-dev"
+        if [ "${{ matrix.architecture }}" = "32" ]; then
+          PKGS="$PKGS zlib1g-dev:i386 libssl-dev:i386 libsbc-dev:i386 gcc-13-multilib g++-13-multilib"
+        else
+          PKGS="$PKGS zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libsbc-dev"
+        fi
+        for attempt in {1..4}; do
+          if sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends $PKGS; then
+            break
+          fi
+          echo "apt-get install failed (attempt $attempt), cleaning up & retrying..."
+          sudo apt-get clean
+          sleep $((attempt*15))
+        done
+
+    - name: Set up Python environment
+      run: |
+        python3 -m venv venv
+        source venv/bin/activate
+        pip install --upgrade pip
+        pip install jsonref
 
     - name: Download artifacts
       uses: actions/download-artifact@v4