/** * Building the base image a scenario's machines are raised from. * * A sealed scenario cannot install a container runtime: its segments use documentation ranges * and there is no route out (novox/hq ADR 0016). ADR 0006 records the consequence — *the lab * needs a way to place images, and the machine it places them into needs a container runtime, * which a sealed scenario cannot install either.* * * This is that, and it is research 012's reframing applied literally: **fetch at build time on * a machine that has a network, apply on a target that then needs nothing.** The build happens * here, once per lab, on a machine with a network. What a scenario raises afterwards needs * neither. * * Measured while writing it: installing the runtime takes about 30 seconds, publishing about a * minute, and the result is roughly 700 MiB. */ import { incus, incusOk, succeeds } from "../incus/client.ts"; import { BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS } from "./place.ts"; /** The stock image the base is built FROM. */ export const UPSTREAM_IMAGE = "images:archlinux/current"; const BUILDER = "mesh-lab-base-builder"; /** * **The mirrors the builder installs from, several and in order** (novox/hq issue 700). * * The stock image names one mirror, mirrors.kernel.org, and a base build failed twice on it in one morning: * timeouts while installing the runtime, then a 500 on wireguard-tools. pacman tries the next server in the * list for each file it could not fetch, so a list of several turns one mirror's bad minute into a slower * download instead of a failed build. * * A fixed list rather than ranking at build time: ranking (rankmirrors, reflector) needs a package installed * first, from the one mirror that is the problem, and gives a different list on every build. These are * Arch's own geo-routed mirror first, then well-kept European mirrors near the lab's machine, then the * stock image's own. Each answered for core.db on 2026-10-14. A mirror that goes away costs a fallback, * not a build, and is replaced here. */ export const MIRRORS = [ "https://geo.mirror.pkgbuild.com/$repo/os/$arch", "https://mirror.netcologne.de/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch", "https://ftp.fau.de/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch", "https://archlinux.mirror.liteserver.nl/$repo/os/$arch", "https://mirror.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch", "https://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch", ]; /** The mirrorlist the builder is given: every mirror, in order. */ export function mirrorlist(): string { return "# Written by the mesh-lab base build (novox/hq issue 700): several mirrors, tried in order.\n" + MIRRORS.map((m) => `Server = ${m}`).join("\n") + "\n"; } /** The mirrors a failed pacman step names: "from " in what it said, each once. */ export function failedMirrors(said: string): string[] { const hosts = [...said.matchAll(/\bfrom ([a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,})\b/gi)].map((m) => m[1]!.toLowerCase()); return [...new Set(hosts)]; } /** How long to wait before each retry of a failed pacman step: three retries, backing off. */ export const PACMAN_BACKOFF_MS = [10_000, 30_000, 90_000]; /** What a base build runs through, so a test can stand in for the hypervisor and the clock. */ export interface BaseDeps { incus: (args: string[], timeoutMs?: number) => Promise; incusOk: (args: string[], timeoutMs?: number) => Promise; succeeds: (args: string[], timeoutMs?: number) => Promise; sleep: (ms: number) => Promise; } const realDeps: BaseDeps = { incus, incusOk, succeeds, sleep: (ms) => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, ms)), }; /** * pacmanIn runs one pacman step in the builder, and **runs it again after a pause when it fails**, up to * three more times, saying each time which mirror failed and what it said. Installing is idempotent — what is * installed stays installed — so a retry repeats only what did not happen. The last failure is thrown, naming * every mirror that failed along the way. */ export async function pacmanIn(name: string, args: string[], log: (m: string) => void, deps: BaseDeps = realDeps): Promise { const failed: string[] = []; for (let attempt = 0; ; attempt++) { try { await deps.incus(["exec", name, "--", "pacman", ...args], 600_000); return; } catch (err) { // What pacman said, where incus kept it apart; otherwise the whole message. const said = (err as { stderr?: string }).stderr?.trim() || (err as Error).message; const mirrors = failedMirrors(said); for (const m of mirrors) if (!failed.includes(m)) failed.push(m); const where = mirrors.length > 0 ? `from ${mirrors.join(", ")}` : "naming no mirror"; const first = said.split("\n").find((l) => /error/i.test(l))?.trim() ?? said.split("\n")[0]?.trim() ?? ""; if (attempt >= PACMAN_BACKOFF_MS.length) { throw new BaseImageError(`pacman ${args.join(" ")} failed ${attempt + 1} times; the mirrors that failed: ` + `${failed.join(", ") || "none named"}. Last: ${said}`); } const wait = PACMAN_BACKOFF_MS[attempt]!; log(` pacman ${args.join(" ")} failed ${where} (${first}); trying again in ${wait / 1000}s ` + `(attempt ${attempt + 2} of ${PACMAN_BACKOFF_MS.length + 1})`); await deps.sleep(wait); } } } export class BaseImageError extends Error { constructor(message: string) { super(message); this.name = "BaseImageError"; } } /** * Build the base image, replacing any previous one. * * Every step is read back. A published image that turns out not to have a working runtime is * worse than no image, because every scenario raised from it fails somewhere else. */ export async function buildBaseImage( log: (message: string) => void = () => {}, deps: BaseDeps = realDeps, ): Promise<{ alias: string; runtime: string }> { const { incus, incusOk, succeeds } = deps; await succeeds(["delete", "-f", BUILDER], 120_000); log(` launching ${BUILDER} from ${UPSTREAM_IMAGE}, with a network`); await incus([ "launch", UPSTREAM_IMAGE, BUILDER, "--vm", "-c", "security.secureboot=false", "-c", "limits.memory=2GiB", "-c", "limits.cpu=2", ], 300_000); try { await waitForAgent(BUILDER, deps); // Several mirrors before anything is fetched (MIRRORS), and read back: a list that was not written is // the one mirror again, and the failure would look like the one this prevents. log(` giving pacman ${MIRRORS.length} mirrors`); await incus(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "sh", "-c", `printf '%s' '${mirrorlist()}' > /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist`], 60_000); const written = await incusOk(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "cat", "/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist"], 60_000); if (written?.trim() !== mirrorlist().trim()) { throw new BaseImageError(`the mirrorlist written into ${BUILDER} reads back as ${JSON.stringify(written)}`); } log(" installing a container runtime"); await pacmanIn(BUILDER, ["-Sy", "--noconfirm", "docker"], log, deps); // And the tools for the private network, for the same reason as the runtime: a sealed // scenario cannot install them, so a lab that omits them cannot test connectivity at all — // which is most of what the mesh does between machines. // // Installed here and NOT started. What a node runs is the mesh's decision, delivered as a // declaration; a lab that brought the interface up itself would be testing its own setup // rather than the mesh's. log(" installing the tools for the private network"); await pacmanIn(BUILDER, ["-S", "--noconfirm", "wireguard-tools"], log, deps); // And git, for the same reason again: a machine that builds modules clones them, and a sealed // scenario cannot install it. On a real build machine the mesh installs it as a package like // anything else — the lab is the special case, because its machines reach no mirror. log(" installing git, so a machine can build modules"); await pacmanIn(BUILDER, ["-S", "--noconfirm", "git"], log, deps); // And nftables, because the mesh computes a machine's filtering and delivers it as a file // that a service reflects — and neither the file nor the service can install what loads it. // Installed and NOT enabled: whether a machine filters is the mesh's decision, and a lab that // turned it on itself would be testing its own setup. log(" installing nftables, so a machine can enforce what the mesh computed"); await pacmanIn(BUILDER, ["-S", "--noconfirm", "nftables"], log, deps); // And dnsmasq, because a service is named under the machine it runs on — postgres.novox.internal // — and only a resolver can answer a name the mesh was never told about. Installed and NOT // started: whether a machine resolves for the mesh is the mesh's decision, and a lab that // turned it on itself would be testing its own setup. log(" installing dnsmasq, so a machine can answer names under another machine"); await pacmanIn(BUILDER, ["-S", "--noconfirm", "dnsmasq"], log, deps); // Trust the documentation ranges as plain-HTTP registries. // // **Kept after the lab's own registry was deleted, because it was never only for that.** The // mesh HAS a registry — the `registry` module, `mesh-registry`, serving artifacts to the whole // mesh on port 5000 over plain HTTP from whatever node runs it. In a scenario that node's // address is a documentation-range address, and a runtime will not pull from a plain-HTTP // registry without being told to. Take this away and the artifact store is unusable from every // machine but the one hosting it. // // Scoped to RFC 5737 and RFC 3849 ranges rather than a specific address, because those never // route on the real internet — so this cannot make a real machine trust a real registry, // whatever it is copied onto. await incus([ "exec", BUILDER, "--", "sh", "-c", `mkdir -p /etc/docker && printf '%s' '${JSON.stringify({ "insecure-registries": ["192.0.2.0/24", "198.51.100.0/24", "203.0.113.0/24"], })}' > /etc/docker/daemon.json`, ], 60_000); await incus(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "systemctl", "enable", "docker"], 60_000); await incus(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "systemctl", "start", "docker"], 120_000); // Read back from the tool, not from the package manager (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/007). const wg = await incusOk(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "wg", "--version"], 60_000); if (!wg?.trim()) { throw new BaseImageError( `wireguard-tools was installed in ${BUILDER} and \`wg\` does not answer. Publishing ` + `this would give every scenario a machine that cannot join a private network.`, ); } log(` ${wg.trim()}`); // The same, for git. An installed package is not a capability, and this is the one place to // catch it — a build machine whose clone fails does so three minutes into a scenario, with // the failure reported as a build problem rather than a lab one. const git = await incusOk(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "git", "--version"], 60_000); if (!git?.trim()) { throw new BaseImageError( `git was installed in ${BUILDER} and \`git --version\` does not answer. Publishing ` + `this would give every scenario a machine that cannot build a module.`, ); } log(` ${git.trim()}`); // The same again, for nftables. A machine that cannot load a rule set applies the mesh's // filtering, reports success, and filters nothing — which is precisely the fault the whole // derivation exists to remove, reappearing in the lab. const nft = await incusOk(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "nft", "--version"], 60_000); if (!nft?.trim()) { throw new BaseImageError( `nftables was installed in ${BUILDER} and \`nft\` does not answer. Publishing this would ` + `give every scenario a machine that cannot enforce what the mesh computed for it.`, ); } log(` ${nft.trim()}`); // The same again for dnsmasq. A machine that cannot answer names applies the mesh's resolver // data, reports success, and resolves nothing — the shape of fault this lab exists to catch. const dns = await incusOk(["exec", BUILDER, "--", "dnsmasq", "--version"], 60_000); if (!dns?.trim()) { throw new BaseImageError( `dnsmasq was installed in ${BUILDER} and does not answer. Publishing this would give ` + `every scenario a machine that cannot resolve a name under another machine.`, ); } log(` ${dns.trim().split("\n")[0]}`); // Read back from the runtime, not from the package manager. An installed package is not a // capability (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/007), and this is the one place to catch that — after // publishing, every scenario pays for it instead. const runtime = (await incusOk( ["exec", BUILDER, "--", "docker", "info", "--format", "{{.ServerVersion}}"], 120_000, ))?.trim(); if (!runtime) { throw new BaseImageError( `the runtime was installed in ${BUILDER} and does not answer. Publishing this would ` + `give every scenario an image that looks right and is not.`, ); } log(` runtime works (docker ${runtime})`); // Read back that the runtime will actually pull over plain HTTP from a documentation // range. Writing the file is not the same as the daemon honouring it, and a base image // that looks right here fails much later — as a container that cannot fetch its image // from the mesh's own artifact store, which is a long way from the cause. const trusted = await incusOk( ["exec", BUILDER, "--", "docker", "info", "--format", "{{.RegistryConfig.InsecureRegistryCIDRs}}"], 60_000, ); if (!trusted?.includes("192.0.2.0/24")) { throw new BaseImageError( `the runtime in ${BUILDER} does not trust the documentation ranges as plain-HTTP ` + `registries. It reported: ${trusted?.trim() || "nothing"}\n` + ` Every scenario raised from this image would fail to pull from the mesh's own ` + `artifact store, which serves plain HTTP inside the scenario.`, ); } log(" trusts the documentation ranges as registries"); log(" publishing"); await incus(["stop", BUILDER, "--timeout", "120"], 300_000); await incus(["publish", BUILDER, "--alias", BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS, "--reuse"], 900_000); const listed = await incusOk(["image", "list", BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS, "--format", "csv", "-c", "l"], 60_000); if (!listed?.includes(BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS)) { throw new BaseImageError( `publishing reported success and '${BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS}' is not in the image list.`, ); } log(` published ${BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS}`); return { alias: BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS, runtime }; } finally { // The builder is scaffolding. Leaving it standing would be a machine with a network in a // lab whose whole point is that scenarios do not have one. await succeeds(["delete", "-f", BUILDER], 120_000); } } /** Whether the base image exists, for a scenario to check before it raises. */ export async function baseImageExists(): Promise { const listed = await incusOk( ["image", "list", BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS, "--format", "csv", "-c", "l"], 30_000, ); return Boolean(listed?.includes(BASE_IMAGE_ALIAS)); } /** * Wait for the guest agent, because `launch` returning means the VM started, not that anything * inside it will answer. */ async function waitForAgent(name: string, deps: BaseDeps = realDeps): Promise { for (let i = 0; i < 90; i++) { if (await deps.succeeds(["exec", name, "--", "true"], 10_000)) return; await deps.sleep(2_000); } throw new BaseImageError(`${name} started and its agent never answered.`); }