Add defensive checks to prevent inscrutable error messages #19035

Job	Run time
ci (bundler, bundler1, bundler)	7s
ci (bundler, bundler2, bundler)	12s
ci (cargo, cargo, cargo)	8s
ci (common, common, common)	1m 28s
ci (composer, composer, composer)	7s
ci (docker, docker, docker)	8s
ci (elm, elm, elm)	26s
ci (git_submodules, git_submodules, gitsubmodule)	13s
ci (github_actions, github_actions, github-actions)	12s
ci (go_modules, go_module, gomod)	1m 29s
ci (gradle, gradle, gradle)	12s
ci (hex, hex, mix)	12s
ci (maven, maven, maven)	8s
ci (npm_and_yarn, npm_and_yarn, npm)	10s
ci (nuget, nuget, nuget)	11s
ci (pub, pub, pub)	10s
ci (python, python, pip)	7s
ci (python, python_slow, pip)	21s
ci (swift, swift, swift)	9s
ci (terraform, terraform, terraform)	8s
Lint	39s
Updater	46s
	7m 43s

Provide feedback