pudc - A PID 1 process that barks to the internet by mssola

Description

As a fun exercise in order to dig deeper into the Linux kernel, its interfaces, the RISC-V architecture, and all the dragons in between; I'm building a blog site cooked like this:

• The backend is written in a mixture of C and RISC-V assembly.
• The backend is actually PID1 (for real, not within a container).
• We poll and parse incoming HTTP requests ourselves.
• The frontend is a mere HTML page with htmx.

The project is meant to be Linux-specific, so I'm going to use io_uring, pidfs, namespaces, and Linux-specific features in order to drive all of this.

I'm open for suggestions and so on, but this is meant to be a solo project, as this is more of a learning exercise for me than anything else.

Goals

• Have a better understanding of different Linux features from user space down to the kernel internals.
• Most importantly: have fun.

Resources

• https://github.com/mssola/pudc

---

Enhance setup wizard for Uyuni by PSuarezHernandez

Description

This project wants to enhance the intial setup on Uyuni after its installation, so it's easier for a user to start using with it.

Uyuni currently uses "uyuni-tools" (mgradm) as the installation entrypoint, to trigger the installation of Uyuni in the given host, but does not really perform an initial setup, for instance:

• user creation
• adding products / channels
• generating bootstrap repos
• create activation keys
• ...

Goals

• Provide initial setup wizard as part of mgradm uyuni installation

Resources

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Testing and adding GNU/Linux distributions on Uyuni by juliogonzalezgil

Join the Gitter channel! https://gitter.im/uyuni-project/hackweek

Uyuni is a configuration and infrastructure management tool that saves you time and headaches when you have to manage and update tens, hundreds or even thousands of machines. It also manages configuration, can run audits, build image containers, monitor and much more!

Currently there are a few distributions that are completely untested on Uyuni or SUSE Manager (AFAIK) or just not tested since a long time, and could be interesting knowing how hard would be working with them and, if possible, fix whatever is broken.

For newcomers, the easiest distributions are those based on DEB or RPM packages. Distributions with other package formats are doable, but will require adapting the Python and Java code to be able to sync and analyze such packages (and if salt does not support those packages, it will need changes as well). So if you want a distribution with other packages, make sure you are comfortable handling such changes.

No developer experience? No worries! We had non-developers contributors in the past, and we are ready to help as long as you are willing to learn. If you don't want to code at all, you can also help us preparing the documentation after someone else has the initial code ready, or you could also help with testing :-)

The idea is testing Salt (including bootstrapping with bootstrap script) and Salt-ssh clients

To consider that a distribution has basic support, we should cover at least (points 3-6 are to be tested for both salt minions and salt ssh minions):

1. Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file)
2. Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap scritp, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator)
3. Package management (install, remove, update...)
4. Patching
5. Applying any basic salt state (including a formula)
6. Salt remote commands
7. Bonus point: Java part for product identification, and monitoring enablement
8. Bonus point: sumaform enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/sumaform)
9. Bonus point: Documentation (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni-docs)
10. Bonus point: testsuite enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni/tree/master/testsuite)

If something is breaking: we can try to fix it, but the main idea is research how supported it is right now. Beyond that it's up to each project member how much to hack :-)

• If you don't have knowledge about some of the steps: ask the team
• If you still don't know what to do: switch to another distribution and keep testing.

This card is for EVERYONE, not just developers. Seriously! We had people from other teams helping that were not developers, and added support for Debian and new SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap versions :-)

In progress/done for Hack Week 25

Guide

We started writin a Guide: Adding a new client GNU Linux distribution to Uyuni at https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni/wiki/Guide:-Adding-a-new-client-GNU-Linux-distribution-to-Uyuni, to make things easier for everyone, specially those not too familiar wht Uyuni or not technical.

openSUSE Leap 16.0

The distribution will all love!

https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Roadmap#DRAFTScheduleforLeap16.0

Curent Status We started last year, it's complete now for Hack Week 25! :-D

• [W] Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file) NOTE: Done, client tools for SLMicro6 are using as those for SLE16.0/openSUSE Leap 16.0 are not available yet
• [W] Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap scritp, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator)
• [W] Package management (install, remove, update...). Works, even reboot requirement detection

---

git-fs: file system representation of a git repository by fgonzalez

Description

This project aims to create a Linux equivalent to the git/fs concept from git9. Now, I'm aware that git provides worktrees, but they are not enough for many use cases. Having a read-only representation of the whole repository simplifies scripting by quite a bit and, most importantly, reduces disk space usage. For instance, during kernel livepatching development, we need to process and analyze the source code of hundreds of kernel versions simultaneously.This is rather painful with git-worktrees, as each kernel branch requires no less than 1G of disk space.

As for the technical details, I'll implement the file system using FUSE. The project itself should not take much time to complete, but let's see where it takes me.

I'll try to keep the same design as git9, so the file system will look something like:

/mnt/git
      +-- ctl
      +-- HEAD
      |    +-- tree
      |    |    +--files
      |    |    +--in
      |    |    +--head
      |    |
      |    +-- hash
      |    +-- msg
      |    +-- parent
      |
      +-- branch
      |      |
      |      +-- heads
      |      |      +-- master
      |      |            +-- [commit files, see HEAD]
      |      +-- remotes
      |             +-- origin
      |                     +-- master
      |                            +-- [commit files, see HEAD]
      +-- object
            +-- 00051fd3f066e8c05ae7d3cf61ee363073b9535f # blob contents
            +-- 00051fd3f066e8c05ae7d3cf61ee363073b9535c
                  +-- [tree contents, see HEAD/tree]
            +-- 3f5dbc97ae6caba9928843ec65fb3089b96c9283
                  +-- [commit files, see HEAD]

So, if you wanted to look at the commit message of the current branch, you could simply do:

cat /mnt/git/HEAD/msg 

No collaboration needed. This is a solo project.

Goals

• Implement a working prototype.

• Measure and improve the performance if possible. This step will be the most crucial one. User space filesystems are slower by nature.

Resources

https://orib.dev/git9.html

https://docs.kernel.org/filesystems/fuse/fuse.html

---

dynticks-testing: analyse perf / trace-cmd output and aggregate data by m.crivellari

Description

dynticks-testing is a project started years ago by Frederic Weisbecker. One of the feature is to check the actual configuration (isolcpus, irqaffinity etc etc) and give feedback on it.

An important goal of this tool is to parse the output of trace-cmd / perf and provide more readable data, showing the duration of every events grouped by PID (showing also the CPU number, if the tasks has been migrated etc).

An example of data captured on my laptop (incomplete!!):

          -0     [005] dN.2. 20310.270699: sched_wakeup:         WaylandProxy:46380 [120] CPU:005
          -0     [005] d..2. 20310.270702: sched_switch:         swapper/5:0 [120] R ==> WaylandProxy:46380 [120]
...
    WaylandProxy-46380 [004] d..2. 20310.295397: sched_switch:         WaylandProxy:46380 [120] S ==> swapper/4:0 [120]
          -0     [006] d..2. 20310.295397: sched_switch:         swapper/6:0 [120] R ==> firefox:46373 [120]
         firefox-46373 [006] d..2. 20310.295408: sched_switch:         firefox:46373 [120] S ==> swapper/6:0 [120]
          -0     [004] dN.2. 20310.295466: sched_wakeup:         WaylandProxy:46380 [120] CPU:004

Output of noise_parse.py:

Task: WaylandProxy Pid: 46380 cpus: {4, 5} (Migrated!!!)
        Wakeup Latency                                Nr:        24     Duration:          89
        Sched switch: kworker/12:2                    Nr:         1     Duration:           6

My first contribution is around Nov. 2024!

Goals

• add more features (eg cpuset)
• test / bugfix

Resources

• Frederic's public repository: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/frederic/dynticks-testing.git/
• https://docs.kernel.org/timers/no_hz.html#testing

Progresses

isolcpus and cpusets implemented and merged in master: dynticks-testing.git commit

---

Add Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G (SM7250) basic device tree to mainline linux kernel by pvorel

Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G (SM7250) (smartphone SoC) has no support in the linux kernel, nor in u-boot. Try to add basic device tree support. The hardest part will be to create boot.img which will be accepted by phone.

UART is available for smartphone :).

---

early stage kdump support by mbrugger

Project Description

When we experience a early boot crash, we are not able to analyze the kernel dump, as user-space wasn't able to load the crash system. The idea is to make the crash system compiled into the host kernel (think of initramfs) so that we can create a kernel dump really early in the boot process.

Goal for the Hackweeks

1. Investigate if this is possible and the implications it would have (done in HW21)
2. Hack up a PoC (done in HW22 and HW23)
3. Prepare RFC series (giving it's only one week, we are entering wishful thinking territory here).

update HW23

• I was able to include the crash kernel into the kernel Image.
• I'll need to find a way to load that from init/main.c:start_kernel() probably after kcsan_init()
• I workaround for a smoke test was to hack kexec_file_load() systemcall which has two problems:
  1. My initramfs in the porduction kernel does not have a new enough kexec version, that's not a blocker but where the week ended
  2. As the crash kernel is part of init.data it will be already stale once I can call kexec_file_load() from user-space.

The solution is probably to rewrite the POC so that the invocation can be done from init.text (that's my theory) but I'm not sure if I can reuse the kexec infrastructure in the kernel from there, which I rely on heavily.

update HW24

• Day1
  • rebased on v6.12 with no problems others then me breaking the config
  • setting up a new compilation and qemu/virtme env
  • getting desperate as nothing works that used to work
• Day 2
  • getting to call the invocation of loading the early kernel from __init after kcsan_init()

• Day 3

  • fix problem of memdup not being able to alloc so much memory... use 64K page sizes for now
  • code refactoring
  • I'm now able to load the crash kernel
  • When using virtme I can boot into the crash kernel, also it doesn't boot completely (major milestone!), crash in elfcorehdr_read_notes()

• Day 4

  • crash systems crashes (no pun intended) in copy_old_mempage() link; will need to understand elfcorehdr...
  • call path vmcore_init() -> parse_crash_elf_headers() -> elfcorehdr_read() -> read_from_oldmem() -> copy_oldmem_page() -> copy_to_iter()

• Day 5

  • hacking arch/arm64/kernel/crash_dump.c:copy_old_mempage() to see if crash system really starts. It does.
  • fun fact: retested with more reserved memory and with UEFI FW, host kernel crashes in init but directly starts the crash kernel, so it works (somehow) \o/

update HW25

• Day 1
  • rebased crash-kernel on v6.12.59 (for now), still crashing

---

bpftrace contribution by mkoutny

Description

bpftrace is a great tool, no need to sing odes to it here. It can access any kernel data and process them in real time. It provides helpers for some common Linux kernel structures but not all.

Goals

• set up bpftrace toolchain
• learn about bpftrace implementation and internals
• implement support for percpu_counters
• look into some of the first issues
• send a refined PR (on Thu)

Resources

• https://bpftrace.org/
• https://docs.kernel.org/

---

Improve UML page fault handler by ptesarik

Description

Improve UML handling of segmentation faults in kernel mode. Although such page faults are generally caused by a kernel bug, it is annoying if they cause an infinite loop, or panic the kernel. More importantly, a robust implementation allows to write KUnit tests for various guard pages, preventing potential kernel self-protection regressions.

Goals

Convert the UML page fault handler to use oops_* helpers, go through a few review rounds and finally get my patch series merged in 6.14.

Resources

Wrong initial attempt: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20231215121431.680-1-petrtesarik@huaweicloud.com/T/

---

Multimachine on-prem test with opentofu, ansible and Robot Framework by apappas

Description

A long time ago I explored using the Robot Framework for testing. A big deficiency over our openQA setup is that bringing up and configuring the connection to a test machine is out of scope.

Nowadays we have a way¹ to deploy SUTs outside openqa, but we only use if for cloud tests in conjuction with openqa. Using knowledge gained from that project I am going to try to create a test scenario that replicates an openqa test but this time including the deployment and setup of the SUT.

Goals

Create a simple multimachine test scenario with the support server and SUT all created by the robot framework.

Resources

1. https://github.com/SUSE/qe-sap-deployment
2. terraform-libvirt-provider

---

openQA tests needles elaboration using AI image recognition by mdati

Description

In the openQA test framework, to identify the status of a target SUT image, a screenshots of GUI or CLI-terminal images, the needles framework scans the many pictures in its repository, having associated a given set of tags (strings), selecting specific smaller parts of each available image. For the needles management actually we need to keep stored many screenshots, variants of GUI and CLI-terminal images, eachone accompanied by a dedicated set of data references (json).

A smarter framework, using image recognition based on AI or other image elaborations tools, nowadays widely available, could improve the matching process and hopefully reduce time and errors, during the images verification and detection process.

Goals

Main scope of this idea is to match a "graphical" image of the console or GUI status of a running openQA test, an image of a shell console or application-GUI screenshot, using less time and resources and with less errors in data preparation and use, than the actual openQA needles framework; that is:

• having a given SUT (system under test) GUI or CLI-terminal screenshot, with a local distribution of pixels or text commands related to a running test status,
• we want to identify a desired target, e.g. a screen image status or data/commands context,
  • based on AI/ML-pretrained archives containing object or other proper elaboration tools,
  • possibly able to identify also object not present in the archive, i.e. by means of AI/ML mechanisms.
• the matching result should be then adapted to continue working in the openQA test, likewise and in place of the same result that would have been produced by the original openQA needles framework.
• We expect an improvement of the matching-time(less time), reliability of the expected result(less error) and simplification of archive maintenance in adding/removing objects(smaller DB and less actions).

Hackweek POC:

Main steps

• Phase 1 - Plan
  • study the available tools
  • prepare a plan for the process to build
• Phase 2 - Implement
  • write and build a draft application
• Phase 3 - Data
  • prepare the data archive from a subset of needles
  • initialize/pre-train the base archive
  • select a screenshot from the subset, removing/changing some part
• Phase 4 - Test
  • run the POC application
  • expect the image type is identified in a good %.

Resources

First step of this project is quite identification of useful resources for the scope; some possibilities are:

• SUSE AI and other ML tools (i.e. Tensorflow)
• Tools able to manage images
• RPA test tools (like i.e. Robot framework)
  
• other.

Project references

• Repository: openqa-needles-AI-driven

---

Testing and adding GNU/Linux distributions on Uyuni by juliogonzalezgil

Join the Gitter channel! https://gitter.im/uyuni-project/hackweek

Uyuni is a configuration and infrastructure management tool that saves you time and headaches when you have to manage and update tens, hundreds or even thousands of machines. It also manages configuration, can run audits, build image containers, monitor and much more!

Currently there are a few distributions that are completely untested on Uyuni or SUSE Manager (AFAIK) or just not tested since a long time, and could be interesting knowing how hard would be working with them and, if possible, fix whatever is broken.

For newcomers, the easiest distributions are those based on DEB or RPM packages. Distributions with other package formats are doable, but will require adapting the Python and Java code to be able to sync and analyze such packages (and if salt does not support those packages, it will need changes as well). So if you want a distribution with other packages, make sure you are comfortable handling such changes.

No developer experience? No worries! We had non-developers contributors in the past, and we are ready to help as long as you are willing to learn. If you don't want to code at all, you can also help us preparing the documentation after someone else has the initial code ready, or you could also help with testing :-)

The idea is testing Salt (including bootstrapping with bootstrap script) and Salt-ssh clients

To consider that a distribution has basic support, we should cover at least (points 3-6 are to be tested for both salt minions and salt ssh minions):

1. Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file)
2. Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap scritp, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator)
3. Package management (install, remove, update...)
4. Patching
5. Applying any basic salt state (including a formula)
6. Salt remote commands
7. Bonus point: Java part for product identification, and monitoring enablement
8. Bonus point: sumaform enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/sumaform)
9. Bonus point: Documentation (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni-docs)
10. Bonus point: testsuite enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni/tree/master/testsuite)

If something is breaking: we can try to fix it, but the main idea is research how supported it is right now. Beyond that it's up to each project member how much to hack :-)

• If you don't have knowledge about some of the steps: ask the team
• If you still don't know what to do: switch to another distribution and keep testing.

This card is for EVERYONE, not just developers. Seriously! We had people from other teams helping that were not developers, and added support for Debian and new SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap versions :-)

In progress/done for Hack Week 25

Guide

We started writin a Guide: Adding a new client GNU Linux distribution to Uyuni at https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni/wiki/Guide:-Adding-a-new-client-GNU-Linux-distribution-to-Uyuni, to make things easier for everyone, specially those not too familiar wht Uyuni or not technical.

openSUSE Leap 16.0

The distribution will all love!

https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Roadmap#DRAFTScheduleforLeap16.0

Curent Status We started last year, it's complete now for Hack Week 25! :-D

• [W] Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file) NOTE: Done, client tools for SLMicro6 are using as those for SLE16.0/openSUSE Leap 16.0 are not available yet
• [W] Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap scritp, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator)
• [W] Package management (install, remove, update...). Works, even reboot requirement detection

---

Rewrite Distrobox in go (POC) by fabriziosestito

Description

Rewriting Distrobox in Go.

Main benefits:

• Easier to maintain and to test
• Adapter pattern for different container backends (LXC, systemd-nspawn, etc.)

Goals

• Build a minimal starting point with core commands
• Keep the CLI interface compatible: existing users shouldn't notice any difference
• Use a clean Go architecture with adapters for different container backends
• Keep dependencies minimal and binary size small
• Benchmark against the original shell script

Resources

• Upstream project: https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/
• Distrobox site: https://distrobox.it/
• ArchWiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Distrobox

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Help Create A Chat Control Resistant Turnkey Chatmail/Deltachat Relay Stack - Rootless Podman Compose, OpenSUSE BCI, Hardened, & SELinux by 3nd5h1771fy

Description

The Mission: Decentralized & Sovereign Messaging

FYI: If you have never heard of "Chatmail", you can visit their site here, but simply put it can be thought of as the underlying protocol/platform decentralized messengers like DeltaChat use for their communications. Do not confuse it with the honeypot looking non-opensource paid for prodect with better seo that directs you to chatmailsecure(dot)com

In an era of increasing centralized surveillance by unaccountable bad actors (aka BigTech), "Chat Control," and the erosion of digital privacy, the need for sovereign communication infrastructure is critical. Chatmail is a pioneering initiative that bridges the gap between classic email and modern instant messaging, offering metadata-minimized, end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) communication that is interoperable and open.

However, unless you are a seasoned sysadmin, the current recommended deployment method of a Chatmail relay is rigid, fragile, difficult to properly secure, and effectively takes over the entire host the "relay" is deployed on.

Why This Matters

A simple, host agnostic, reproducible deployment lowers the entry cost for anyone wanting to run a privacy‑preserving, decentralized messaging relay. In an era of perpetually resurrected chat‑control legislation threats, EU digital‑sovereignty drives, and many dangers of using big‑tech messaging platforms (Apple iMessage, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Google Messages, etc...) for any type of communication, providing an easy‑to‑use alternative empowers:

• Censorship resistance - No single entity controls the relay; operators can spin up new nodes quickly.
  
• Surveillance mitigation - End‑to‑end OpenPGP encryption ensures relay operators never see plaintext.
  
• Digital sovereignty - Communities can host their own infrastructure under local jurisdiction, aligning with national data‑policy goals.
  

By turning the Chatmail relay into a plug‑and‑play container stack, we enable broader adoption, foster a resilient messaging fabric, and give developers, activists, and hobbyists a concrete tool to defend privacy online.

Goals

As I indicated earlier, this project aims to drastically simplify the deployment of Chatmail relay. By converting this architecture into a portable, containerized stack using Podman and OpenSUSE base container images, we can allow anyone to deploy their own censorship-resistant, privacy-preserving communications node in minutes.

Our goal for Hack Week: package every component into containers built on openSUSE/MicroOS base images, initially orchestrated with a single container-compose.yml (podman-compose compatible). The stack will:

• Run on any host that supports Podman (including optimizations and enhancements for SELinux‑enabled systems).
  
• Allow network decoupling by refactoring configurations to move from file-system constrained Unix sockets to internal TCP networking, allowing containers achieve stricter isolation.
• Utilize Enhanced Security with SELinux by using purpose built utilities such as udica we can quickly generate custom SELinux policies for the container stack, ensuring strict confinement superior to standard/typical Docker deployments.
• Allow the use of bind or remote mounted volumes for shared data (/var/vmail, DKIM keys, TLS certs, etc.).
  
• Replace the local DNS server requirement with a remote DNS‑provider API for DKIM/TXT record publishing.
  

By delivering a turnkey, host agnostic, reproducible deployment, we lower the barrier for individuals and small communities to launch their own chatmail relays, fostering a decentralized, censorship‑resistant messaging ecosystem that can serve DeltaChat users and/or future services adopting this protocol

Resources

• The links included above
• https://chatmail.at/doc/relay/
• https://delta.chat/en/help
• Project repo -> https://codeberg.org/EndShittification/containerized-chatmail-relay

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Technical talks at universities by agamez

Description

This project aims to empower the next generation of tech professionals by offering hands-on workshops on containerization and Kubernetes, with a strong focus on open-source technologies. By providing practical experience with these cutting-edge tools and fostering a deep understanding of open-source principles, we aim to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

For now, the scope is limited to Spanish universities, since we already have the contacts and have started some conversations.

Goals

• Technical Skill Development: equip students with the fundamental knowledge and skills to build, deploy, and manage containerized applications using open-source tools like Kubernetes.
• Open-Source Mindset: foster a passion for open-source software, encouraging students to contribute to open-source projects and collaborate with the global developer community.
• Career Readiness: prepare students for industry-relevant roles by exposing them to real-world use cases, best practices, and open-source in companies.

Resources

• Instructors: experienced open-source professionals with deep knowledge of containerization and Kubernetes.
• SUSE Expertise: leverage SUSE's expertise in open-source technologies to provide insights into industry trends and best practices.

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