Re: Cannot build release.nix without KVM

[Alyssa Ross <hi@alyssa.is>]

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Alyssa Ross <hi@alyssa.is> writes:

> Alyssa Ross <hi@alyssa.is> writes:
>
>> Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> On a Qubes OS VM (which doesn't have nested virtualization), building
>>> release.nix fails because start-vmm-test (rightly) errors out.  Having
>>> KVM be a *build*-time dependency of Spectrum OS seems rather strict,
>>> especially because I can always copy the generated files over to another
>>> machine and run them there.  In particular, I can copy the resulting image
>>> and run it in QEMU.
>>
>> Ah, I've made a mistake here I think. KVM shouldn't be a build
>> dependency, because the Scaleway aarch64 builders used to populate the
>> binary cache don't have it.  It's only recently that release.nix
>> includes start-vmm-test, so I haven't run those builders since, and
>> hadn't noticed it.
>>
>> One option would be to introduce a build configuration[1] option that
>> just disables any tests that need KVM.  Another would be to run those
>> tests inside QEMU TCG if KVM is available, which would have the benefit
>> of the tests still running (and not introducing more config options).  I
>> wonder what the most lightweight way to optionally run some code in a
>> TCG VM would be…
>>
>> [1]: https://spectrum-os.org/doc/development/build-configuration.html
>
> Sadly the obvious solution of running it under QEMU user emulation
> doesn't work…
>
> https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/871

… and even if it did, QEMU user emulation doesn't implement the KVM API.

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that since start-vmm-test isn't
testing anything that isn't covered by the integration tests we recently
gained (which run a full Spectrum system in QEMU, and can therefore use
TCG), it can just be removed, and I've now done so.  I think that means
that everything can now be built without KVM, so the problem is solved
for now.  (Let me know if not.)

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