VMImage Params Caching Request

Introduced Caching Method Before Network Requests.
A few changes to Error Handling

Reference:      #6167
Signed-off-by: Harvey Lynden <[email protected]>

Author: harvey0100

avocado/utils/asset.py

@@ -443,7 +443,9 @@ def fetch(self, timeout=None):
 
     def find_asset_file(self, create_metadata=False):
         """
-        Search for the asset file in each one of the cache locations
+        Search for the asset file in each one of the cache locations.
+
+        It handles both normal asset names and direct file paths.
 
         :param bool create_metadata: Should this method create the
                                      metadata in case asset file found
@@ -454,27 +456,50 @@ def find_asset_file(self, create_metadata=False):
         :raises: OSError
         """
 
-        for cache_dir in self.cache_dirs:
-            cache_dir = os.path.expanduser(cache_dir)
-            asset_file = os.path.join(cache_dir, self.relative_dir)
-
-            # Ignore non-files
-            if not os.path.isfile(asset_file):
-                continue
-
-            # Ignore expired asset files
-            if self._is_expired(asset_file, self.expire):
-                continue
-
-            # Ignore mismatch hash
-            if not self._has_valid_hash(asset_file, self.asset_hash, self.algorithm):
-                continue
+        # Try 1: Check if self.name is already a direct file path
+        if self.name and os.path.isfile(self.name):
+            # For direct paths, expired/invalid files are errors, not skips
+            if self._is_expired(self.name, self.expire):
+                raise OSError(f"File {self.asset_name} has expired.")
+            if not self._has_valid_hash(self.name, self.asset_hash, self.algorithm):
+                raise OSError(f"File {self.asset_name} hash mismatch.")
 
             if create_metadata:
-                self._create_metadata_file(asset_file)
-
-            LOG.info("Asset already exists in cache.")
-            return asset_file
+                self._create_metadata_file(self.name)
+            LOG.info("Asset found as direct file path.")
+            return self.name
+
+        # Try 2 & 3: Search in cache directories
+        search_paths = [
+            # Try relative_dir approach first
+            *[
+                (
+                    os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(cache_dir), self.relative_dir),
+                    "Asset already exists in cache.",
+                )
+                for cache_dir in self.cache_dirs
+            ],
+            # Then try by name
+            *[
+                (
+                    os.path.join(os.path.expanduser(cache_dir), self.name),
+                    "Asset found in cache by name.",
+                )
+                for cache_dir in self.cache_dirs
+            ],
+        ]
+
+        for asset_file, log_msg in search_paths:
+            if (
+                os.path.isfile(asset_file)
+                and not self._is_expired(asset_file, self.expire)
+                and self._has_valid_hash(asset_file, self.asset_hash, self.algorithm)
+            ):
+
+                if create_metadata:
+                    self._create_metadata_file(asset_file)
+                LOG.info(log_msg)
+                return asset_file
 
         raise OSError(f"File {self.asset_name} not found in the cache.")
 
@@ -484,18 +509,29 @@ def get_metadata(self):
 
         :return: metadata
         :rtype: dict or None
+        :raises: OSError if asset file doesn't exist
         """
         try:
             asset_file = self.find_asset_file()
-        except OSError as exc:
-            raise OSError("Metadata not available.") from exc
+        except OSError as e:
+            # Re-raise OSError if asset file doesn't exist
+            LOG.debug("Asset file not found, metadata not available for %s", self.name)
+            raise OSError("Metadata not available.") from e
 
+        # Look for metadata file
         basename = os.path.splitext(asset_file)[0]
         metadata_file = f"{basename}_metadata.json"
+
         if os.path.isfile(metadata_file):
-            with open(metadata_file, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-                metadata = json.load(f)
-                return metadata
+            try:
+                with open(metadata_file, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                    metadata = json.load(f)
+                    return metadata
+            except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+                LOG.warning("Failed to parse metadata file %s: %s", metadata_file, e)
+            except OSError as e:
+                LOG.warning("Failed to read metadata file %s: %s", metadata_file, e)
+
         return None
 
     @property