fix(smolmachines): drop runuser -l in favor of UID switch + explicit HOME/USER
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Interactive claude session hung silently after
`attaching interactive claude session...` — `runuser -l` invokes
a login shell that triggers PAM session setup / /etc/profile
sourcing, and the minimal Debian agent VM doesn't have the PAM
config files for that to complete cleanly. claude never got to
draw its TUI.

Switch UID via plain `runuser -u <user> --` (no `-l`) and inject
HOME / USER through `smolvm machine exec -e` so the child
process sees them. Avoids login-shell wiring entirely. Same
pattern in `exec_claude` and `exec(script)`.

`_HOME_FOR` maps the two users the codebase currently asks for
(`node`, `root`); anything else falls back to `/home/<user>`.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-05-27 15:03:51 -04:00
parent af65c10361
commit 35edf50f21
+40 -22
View File
@@ -9,20 +9,36 @@ context-manager contract is satisfied.
User context: `smolvm machine exec` runs commands as root in the
VM, but the agent image's USER is `node` and claude-code refuses
to run as root with `--dangerously-skip-permissions`. Both
`exec_claude` and `exec` wrap commands in `runuser -l node -c`
so they execute as the node user (and pick up node's $HOME /
$USER from the login shell) — matches the docker backend's
default-USER behavior."""
`exec_claude` and `exec` switch to the requested user (default
`node`) via `runuser -u <user> --` and set `HOME` / `USER`
through `smolvm -e` — avoiding `runuser -l`'s login-shell wiring
(PAM session setup, /etc/profile sourcing) which can hang on a
minimal Debian VM with no PAM session config."""
from __future__ import annotations
import shlex
import subprocess
from .. import Bottle, ExecResult
from . import smolvm as _smolvm
# Per-user env the agent image's USER (node) expects. claude
# reads ~/.claude.json + writes session state under ~/.claude/;
# bare `runuser -u` inherits root's HOME=/root, which claude
# can't write to. Set HOME / USER explicitly through smolvm -e
# so the child process sees them.
_HOME_FOR = {
"node": "/home/node",
"root": "/root",
}
def _env_flags_for(user: str) -> list[str]:
home = _HOME_FOR.get(user, f"/home/{user}")
return ["-e", f"HOME={home}", "-e", f"USER={user}"]
class SmolmachinesBottle(Bottle):
"""Handle returned by `SmolmachinesBottleBackend.launch`. The
underlying VM lifecycle (create / start / stop / delete) lives
@@ -47,21 +63,18 @@ class SmolmachinesBottle(Bottle):
scripted exec, wrong for an interactive shell. Drop down
to `subprocess.run` with the TTY inherited.
`runuser -l node -c` runs the inner command under node's
login shell so $HOME / $USER are set. Without that switch
claude bails on `--dangerously-skip-permissions cannot be
used with root/sudo privileges`."""
UID switches via `runuser -u node --` (not `-l`) so we
avoid login-shell wiring. HOME / USER come from `smolvm
-e` instead, which sets them on the process env."""
flags = ["smolvm", "machine", "exec", "--name", self.name]
if tty:
flags += ["-i", "-t"]
flags += _env_flags_for("node")
claude_argv = ["claude"]
if self._prompt_path:
claude_argv += ["--append-system-prompt-file", self._prompt_path]
claude_argv += argv
# shlex-quote each piece so flags / paths with shell-special
# chars survive the runuser -c shell parse.
inner = " ".join(shlex.quote(p) for p in claude_argv)
flags += ["--", "runuser", "-l", "node", "-c", f"exec {inner}"]
flags += ["--", "runuser", "-u", "node", "--", *claude_argv]
result = subprocess.run(flags, check=False)
return result.returncode
@@ -73,18 +86,23 @@ class SmolmachinesBottle(Bottle):
on both backends. Pass `user="root"` for tests that need
root.
`smolvm machine exec` runs commands as root in the VM, so
we always need to switch user (even when the caller asked
for root, switching to root is a cheap no-op via
`runuser -l root`)."""
r = _smolvm.machine_exec(
self.name,
["runuser", "-l", user, "-c", script],
`runuser -u <user> -- /bin/sh -c <script>` switches UID
without invoking a login shell; HOME / USER are set via
`smolvm -e` (see `_env_flags_for`)."""
argv = (
_env_flags_for(user)
+ ["--", "runuser", "-u", user, "--", "/bin/sh", "-c", script]
)
# _smolvm.machine_exec expects argv (the bit after `--`);
# the -e flags go before, so call smolvm directly.
r = subprocess.run(
["smolvm", "machine", "exec", "--name", self.name] + argv,
capture_output=True, text=True, check=False,
)
return ExecResult(
returncode=r.returncode,
stdout=r.stdout,
stderr=r.stderr,
stdout=r.stdout or "",
stderr=r.stderr or "",
)
def cp_in(self, host_path: str, container_path: str) -> None: