didericis
218f29cb05
Replaces the BB_TEST_PREREQS env toggle with the two subcommands the macOS
harness established, so the two repos read the same:
test A bare host — prerequisites NOT set up (the default state of a
stock cloud image). Exercises install.sh's own prerequisite-guard
logic. SOUND (PASS) when install.sh either installs cleanly or
declines with one of its own recognized, actionable errors; a
crash or unrecognized failure fails.
test-ready Prerequisites satisfied — the harness installs python3/git/pipx
first, then runs install.sh, which must actually land: entry point
runnable, doctor reporting a usable python and config.
Structure now mirrors scripts/macos-install-test.sh: a shared _test_cycle
driving up -> (prereqs) -> run -> verdict -> down, thin cmd_test / cmd_test_ready
wrappers setting _STEPS / _PASS_CLAIM / _REQUIRE_INSTALL, a standalone `prereqs`
subcommand, and a _test_teardown that prints the PASS/FAIL claim.
The doctor check is now the macOS-style classifier rather than a bare exit-code
read: a Traceback is an install defect (fail), a missing `ok: python:` /
`ok: config:` line is a fail, and a not-ready backend is reported, not fatal
(BB_TEST_REQUIRE_BACKEND=1 makes it fatal for a nested-virt host). This is where
Linux diverges from macOS test-ready — a plain VM has no nested KVM for
Firecracker and the harness doesn't provision the Docker backend, so backend
readiness is never the Linux criterion.
test-all now runs every distro × {test, test-ready}. Research note updated.
Validated with `bash -n` and `shellcheck`.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
136 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
136 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
# Testing a clean bot-bottle install on Linux
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How do you exercise `install.sh` the way a brand-new user would — on a
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pristine Linux environment you can throw away afterward — *without*
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polluting your daily-driver host, and across the several package-management
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regimes Linux fragments into? This is the Linux counterpart to
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[`testing-clean-install-on-macos.md`](testing-clean-install-on-macos.md);
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the conclusion is different because Linux gives us a boundary macOS doesn't.
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## Summary
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On macOS the honest options were a throwaway user or a VM, and the throwaway
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user won on pragmatics (nested virtualization is gated to M3+). On Linux the
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calculus flips: a **disposable KVM virtual machine, booted from a distro
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cloud image and deleted per run, is both the cleanest boundary and the one
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that lets a single harness cover Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, and NixOS**.
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The host already requires KVM for the Firecracker backend, so the VM is cheap
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here.
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The harness lives at [`scripts/linux-install-test.sh`](../../scripts/linux-install-test.sh).
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Per run it caches one read-only base image, boots a throwaway copy-on-write
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overlay (`qemu-img create -b base`), installs the distro's prerequisites,
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pipes *this checkout's* `install.sh` into the guest exactly as `curl … | sh`
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would, asserts the CLI installed, and deletes the overlay — the Linux
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equivalent of `docker run --rm`, for a whole machine.
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## Why a VM, not a container or a throwaway user
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| Mechanism | Why it's the wrong boundary here |
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| **Container** (`docker run --rm`) | Shares the host kernel and ships a deliberately minimal userland — no systemd, a stubbed-out package manager story, and (crucially) it doesn't reproduce the *externally-managed Python* (PEP 668) that real desktop/server installs put in front of the user. It tests "does install.sh run in a container," not "does it run on a real distro." |
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| **Throwaway user** (`useradd`/`userdel`) | The macOS pick, but weaker on Linux: it reaches the real host, yet every system package it installs (python, pipx, git via `apt`/`dnf`/…) stays behind, and it can only ever test the *one* distro the host runs. The whole Linux-specific value is the cross-distro matrix. |
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| **Disposable KVM VM** (this harness) | A genuine kernel + userland + package-manager boundary that wipes to nothing on teardown, and swaps freely between distro cloud images. The one real cost — nested virtualization for the *backend* — doesn't apply, because we gate the installer, not the runtime (below). |
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## Two variants: `test` (bare host) and `test-ready` (prepared host)
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`install.sh` never installs a backend, and never installs its own toolchain
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prerequisites (python3, git, pipx) — it installs the `bot-bottle` package and
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runs `doctor`, which *reports* what's missing
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([`install.sh`](../../install.sh) header,
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[`bot_bottle/cli/commands/doctor.py`](../../bot_bottle/cli/commands/doctor.py)).
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That leaves two distinct things worth testing, split into two subcommands that
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mirror the macOS harness's `test` / `test-ready` convention (there the split is
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the backend service; here it is the toolchain the installer needs):
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- **`test`** — `install.sh` runs on the **bare cloud image**, prerequisites and
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all left as the vendor ships them. This exercises `install.sh`'s own
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prerequisite-guard logic — the entire first half of the script (python
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version gate, git-for-git-specs gate, pipx/pip PEP-668 handling).
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- **`test-ready`** — the harness installs python3 + git + pipx first (the
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`prereqs` step), then runs `install.sh`. This is the *prepared-host happy
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path*: does a clean install actually land and produce a working CLI?
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**Pass criteria differ by variant:**
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| Variant | PASS when |
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|---|---|
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| `test` | `install.sh` **either** installs cleanly (the image already carried enough) **or** declines with one of its own recognized, actionable prerequisite errors (missing python3/git, no usable pip, PEP 668). A crash or an *unrecognized* failure is a FAIL. |
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| `test-ready` | `install.sh` actually lands: the `bot-bottle` entry point is present and runs, and `doctor` reports a usable python and config without crashing. A graceful decline is no longer good enough. |
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Neither variant requires a green `doctor`: inside the VM there is no nested KVM
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or Docker, so **the backend is correctly reported not-ready** — install.sh does
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not install a backend and cannot regress one, and this harness does not
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provision the Docker backend. This is where Linux necessarily diverges from the
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macOS `test-ready`, which reaches the host backend; `BB_TEST_REQUIRE_BACKEND=1`
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makes readiness fatal anyway, for a nested-virt host that can satisfy it. The
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verdict instead classifies `doctor`'s output the way the macOS harness does — a
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`Traceback` is an install defect (fail), a missing `python`/`config` line is a
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fail, a not-ready backend is reported — so a genuine installer regression (a
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broken shim, an import error, a botched PATH) stays visible.
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`test-all` runs the full matrix — every distro × both variants — each cell in
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its own throwaway VM, and prints a per-cell PASS/FAIL summary.
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## The distro matrix is the point
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Each distro exercises a different corner of the installer:
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| Distro | Cloud image | What it stresses |
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|---|---|---|
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| **Ubuntu** (noble) | `cloud-images.ubuntu.com` | The common case; `apt`'s `pipx`, externally-managed Python (PEP 668) → install.sh's pipx path. |
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| **Fedora** | Fedora Cloud Base Generic | `dnf` packaging, a different default Python, BSD-style checksum file. |
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| **Arch** | `geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/images/latest` | Rolling / newest Python; `python-pipx`. |
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| **Alpine** | Alpine "cloud" (cloudinit) image | musl libc + BusyBox `sh` — the harshest POSIX-`sh` host for a `#!/bin/sh` installer. |
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| **NixOS** | `channels.nixos.org` OpenStack image | No FHS `~/.local` on PATH by default; `nix-env` user-profile prereqs; pipx laying a self-contained venv on a non-FHS host. |
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In `test-ready` the harness installs `python3 + git + pipx` first on each
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distro (install.sh installs none of them), so all five drive the recommended
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pipx path. `test` then removes that scaffolding and lets each distro's bare
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image collide with install.sh's guards — on most cloud images python3 is
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present (cloud-init needs it) but git and pipx are not, so install.sh is
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expected to decline at the git-for-git-specs gate or the PEP-668 pip check with
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an actionable message. Both are legitimate, and the two variants together cover
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the whole first half of the installer as well as the happy path.
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## What a clean install touches (the footprint that decides "wipeable")
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| Artifact | Location | In the guest's `$HOME`? | Survives VM teardown? |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Config / state / db | `~/.bot-bottle/{agents,bottles,contrib,…}` ([`install.sh`](../../install.sh)) | ✅ | ❌ overlay deleted |
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| pipx venv + shim | `~/.local/pipx/venvs/bot-bottle`, shim in `~/.local/bin` | ✅ | ❌ overlay deleted |
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| pip `--user` fallback | `~/.local/lib` + `~/.local/bin` | ✅ | ❌ overlay deleted |
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| **Distro prerequisites** (python/git/pipx, `test-ready` only) | system paths via `apt`/`dnf`/`pacman`/`apk`/`nix-env` | ❌ | ❌ **overlay deleted** |
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Unlike the macOS throwaway user (whose Homebrew / Apple-Container / Rosetta
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footprint *survives*), **every row here dies with the overlay** — that is the
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VM's whole advantage. The cached base image is read-only backing and is the
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only thing that persists between runs, on purpose.
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## Design notes baked into the harness
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- **User-mode networking** (`-netdev user,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:PORT-:22`):
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no root, no bridge, no host network state touched. Only SSH is forwarded.
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- **cloud-init seed ISO** (`cloud-localds`) injects an ephemeral SSH keypair
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and a passwordless-sudo login. The keypair is generated per run and deleted
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on teardown; the guest can't be logged into after it's gone.
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- **Copy-on-write overlay**: the cached base is never mutated, so a corrupt or
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interrupted run can't poison the cache; downloads land at `*.partial` and
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are renamed only after checksum verification.
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- **Checksums**: verified against each vendor's published sums file at
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download time (GNU `hash file`, bare-hash, and Fedora's BSD
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`SHA256 (file) = hash` formats are all handled). The NixOS channel image
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ships no stable sums file, so that one needs `BB_TEST_SKIP_VERIFY=1`.
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- **`test-all`** runs every distro × both variants (`test` and `test-ready`),
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each cell in its own subshell on its own forwarded port, so one cell's
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failure (or teardown trap) can't abort the matrix; it prints a per-cell
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PASS/FAIL summary.
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## Not wired into PR CI
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Like the macOS harness, the runtime is host-specific (needs `/dev/kvm`,
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`qemu`, and `cloud-localds`) and is not exercised by the Linux pull-request
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runner. It is validated statically (`bash -n`, `shellcheck`) and run by hand
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on a KVM-capable host. The cloud-image URLs in the `DISTRO` table are the one
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place to bump when a distro cuts a newer build.
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