[jharlow-intel]

ubuntu-latest moved from Ubuntu 24.04 to 26.04 around 25 October, and the 26.04 image no longer ships Miniconda. $CONDA is unset, so "Add conda to system path" adds /bin, and the Linux build and test jobs in conda-package.yml and conda-package-cf.yml fail with conda: command not found (Conda package, Conda package using conda-forge). The same image change removed apt-key, which #402 fixes. Same change as IntelPython/mkl_random#207.

• The four Linux jobs now install Miniforge with conda-incubator/setup-miniconda, as the Windows jobs already do. It adds condabin to PATH, exports $CONDA and sets always_yes, so the existing conda steps run unchanged.
• setup-miniconda rewrites ~/.condarc when it starts, so the separate "Set pkgs_dirs" steps would be lost; pkgs-dirs: ~/.conda/pkgs keeps the cached package directory instead.
• CONDA_BLD in conda-package.yml and the artifact path in conda-package-cf.yml pointed at the old image's /usr/share/miniconda; both now come from $CONDA.

pre-commit passes on both files, and zizmor reports the same findings as on master.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

No active review issues remain for the Linux conda workflow updates.

No open issues 🎉

What changed in this PR

Updates the Linux conda workflows to install Miniforge explicitly rather than relying on Miniconda being preinstalled on the runner.

Changes:

• Uses setup-miniconda in all four Linux build and test jobs.
• Preserves the cached package directory through pkgs-dirs.
• Derives build and artifact paths from CONDA instead of hardcoded installation paths.

Repository guidance could not be verified because /repo/AGENTS.md was unavailable.

File	Description
.github/​workflows/​conda-package.yml	Installs Miniforge, configures the package cache, and derives CONDA_BLD from CONDA.
.github/​workflows/​conda-package-cf.yml	Installs Miniforge, configures the package cache, and derives the artifact path from CONDA.

_{Review effort: Balanced}