gitlab-runner VS toolbox

#!/bin/bash # ### Script to initialize a GitLab runner on an existing AWS EC2 instance with NVME disk(s) # # - script is not interactive (can be run as user_data) # - will reboot at the end to perform NVME mounting # - first NVME disk will be used for GitLab custom cache # - last NVME disk will be used for Docker data (if only one NVME, the same will be used without problem) # - robust: on each reboot and stop/start, disks are mounted again (but data may be lost if stop and then start after a few minutes) # - runner is tagged with multiple instance data (public dns, IP, instance type...) # - works with a single spot instance # - should work even with multiple ones in a fleet, with same user_data (not tested for now) # # /!\ There is no prerequisite, except these needed variables : MAINTAINER=zenika RUNNER_NAME="majestic-runner" GITLAB_URL=https://gitlab.com/ GITLAB_TOKEN=XXXX # prepare docker (re)install sudo apt-get -y install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release sysstat curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list >/dev/null sudo apt-get update # needed to use the docker.list # install gitlab runner curl -L "https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/runner/gitlab-runner/script.deb.sh" | sudo bash sudo apt-get -y install gitlab-runner # create NVME initializer script cat </home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.sh #!/bin/bash # # To be run on each fresh start, since NVME disks are ephemeral # so first start, start after stop, but not on reboot # inspired by https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45167717/mounting-a-nvme-disk-on-aws-ec2 # date | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log ### Handle NVME disks # get NVME disks bigger than 100Go (some small size disk may be there for root, depending on server type) NVME_DISK_LIST=\$(lsblk -b --output=NAME,SIZE | grep "^nvme" | awk '{if(\$2>100000000000)print\$1}' | sort) echo "NVME disks are: \$NVME_DISK_LIST" | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log # there may be 1 or 2 NVME disks, then we split (or not) the mounts between GitLab custom cache and Docker data export NVME_GITLAB=\$(echo "\$NVME_DISK_LIST" | head -n 1) export NVME_DOCKER=\$(echo "\$NVME_DISK_LIST" | tail -n 1) echo "NVME_GITLAB=\$NVME_GITLAB and NVME_DOCKER=\$NVME_DOCKER" | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log # format disks if not sudo mkfs -t xfs /dev/\$NVME_GITLAB | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log || echo "\$NVME_GITLAB already formatted" # this may already be done sudo mkfs -t xfs /dev/\$NVME_DOCKER | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log || echo "\$NVME_DOCKER already formatted" # disk may be the same, then already formated by previous command # mount on /gitlab-host/ and /var/lib/docker/ sudo mkdir -p /gitlab sudo mount /dev/\$NVME_GITLAB /gitlab | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log sudo mkdir -p /gitlab/custom-cache sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/docker sudo mount /dev/\$NVME_DOCKER /var/lib/docker | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log ### reinstall Docker (which data may have been wiped out) # docker (re)install sudo apt-get -y reinstall docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log echo "NVME initialization succesful" | tee -a /home/ubuntu/nvme-initializer.log EOF # set NVME initializer script as startup script sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/nvme-initializer.service >/dev/null <

GitLab team member here, thanks for sharing.

> Still not a big fan of how stiff Yaml pipelines feel in Gitlab CI

Maybe the pipeline editor in "Build > Pipeline editor" can help with live linting, or more advanced features such as parent-child pipelines or merge trains.

If you need tips for optimizing the CI/CD pipeline, suggest following these tips in the docs https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/pipelines/pipeline_efficiency.... or a few more tips in my recent talk "Efficient DevSecOps pipelines in cloud-native world", slides from Chemnitz Linux Days 2023 in https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_kyGo_cWi5dKyxi3BfYj...

> and that tickets for what seems like a simple feature [1] hang around for years, but it is nice.

Thanks for sharing. (FYI for everyone) The linked issue suggests a Docker cache cleanup script, which might be helpful. https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/27332#n... -> https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#clear-t...

If only competitors could do better...

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/2797

GitLab MR for the CACHE_COMPRESSION_LEVEL implementation

And in general just making caching stuff easier. I feel like it is unnecessarily complicated for example to cache apt-get in Gitlab which I assume makes most people not do it.

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/991#not...

The team has both made a ton of effort switching off their proprietary Skia based rendering tech and adopting standard Wayland, and has put forward huge effort to making running incredibly well integrated real Linux containers just work.

The headline is true. ChromeOS is Linux with Google’s desktop environment. But it obfuscates the details. It's a damned by omission statement. It has some really good sauce to help you not notice often, but it's not at all a Linux desktop environment one can regularly use. You can do a lot of Linux desktop-y things but only through well crafted special unique wrapped processes that mostly but not fully help mock & emulate a regular Linux desktop. Even though it now runs Wayland, the apps you want to run will have atypical intermediates up the wazoo.

And no one else uses any of this tech. ChromiumOs has so much interesting container tech, does such an interesting job making containers think they have a regular Linux / FreeDesktop environment. It's far far far far deeper virtualization than for example https://github.com/containers/toolbox . But you know what? Google has made zero effort to get these pieces adopted elsewhere. It's open source but not intended for use outside Chromium/ChromeOS. I respect & think ChromeOS is a quite viable Linux, and it's so much closer to the metal & more interesting, amazing tech, but my gods Microsoft has gone 300x further to establish wsl2 as a sustainable community effort folks could use & target, in a way that ChromiumOS has done nothing about.

It's sad how Google has transformed from a company that appreciated & worked with ecosystems, that drove things collectively forward, into an individual player that does their own things & delivers from on high. ChromiumOS is such an incredible effort, but it's so internernally drive & focused, and it's hard to believe in such a wildcat effort, even though it's so so good. It keeps coming into better alignment with Linux Desktop actual, but via shims and emulations that no one else cares about or which seems marketed elsewhere. And that inward focus makes the whole effort both so exceptional & promising, but suspect. Such a different nearby but alternative & separately governed universe. ChromiumOS/ChromeOS do excellent at faking being a Linux desktop, and wonderfully have increasingly drawn more strength from that universe, but are still wholly their own very distinct very separate very controller other space. In many ways that's great, secure, good, and miraculously transparently done. But it's still hard to really trust, being such a weird alien impostor, faking so much for end user apps, and there's tension in believing ChromeOS will keep straddling the rift in pro-user manifestations forever.

I'm really, really happy with my current setup of Fedora immutable + toolbox [0]. This tool lets you create containers that are fully integrated with the system, so you have acces to the entire Fedora repos, can run graphical apps, etc. while still having everything inside a container in your home directory. That means no Flatpak required. Highly recommended.

[0] https://containertoolbx.org

Seems like toolbox is also in this space; https://github.com/containers/toolbox

With Silverblue the core repos are very similar to what you'd have on regular Fedora. With more of a philosophical shift about where you're supposed to install things from. The idea being that the base OS is immutable and you keep it fairly minimal - even though you are technically free to install any of Fedora packages to it. And then you install user applications through Flatpak and toolbx. Where these more user space focussed applications are installed to your home directory and are sandboxed away from actual access to your OS. With iOS/Android style application permissions like "Give app permission to access camera" and "Give app permission to modify files in home directory". Allowing you even further customise the sandboxing of applications. Do you really want that app to have access to your microphone?

I'd probably try running it on the host system first. If you want to use your nvidia gpu inside toolbox, you would indeed need to install the drivers in the container: https://github.com/containers/toolbox/issues/116

Use toolbox on CentOS or Ubuntu if you want a Fedora environment with more up to date tools: https://containertoolbx.org/