chore(main): add reusable workflow to test installing slices

[rebornplusplus]

This PR adds a reusable workflow file .github/workflows/install-slices.yaml which can be used to test installing slices in changed or all slice definition files. It also adds a helper script github/scripts/install-slices used by the mentioned workflow file.

---

Example: rebornplusplus#2

[cjdcordeiro]

see #120 (review)

[cjdcordeiro]

hum there's quite a lot of repetition here. You don't need the two separate workflows.

One is enough, where:

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      install-all:
        description: "If true, install all slices in slices/"
        type: boolean
        default: false
        required: false
  push:
    branches:
      - "main"
    paths:
      - ".github/**"
  pull-request:
    branches:
      - "main"
    paths:
      - ".github/**"
  schedule:
    # Run at 00:00 every day.
    # Ref: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/crontab.5.html
    - cron: "0 0 * * *"

and then you can have a dedicated job just for creating the "installation" matrix

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix: ${{ fromJSON(needs.prepare-install.outputs.install-matrix) }}

[rebornplusplus]

That is an interesting idea. I tried to do that. But the problem is that matrix will need to be different based on whether the workflow has been called via workflow_call or not. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't find any way to distinguish that, from within the reusable workflow. Let me know if you have some suggestions.

I added another input to remove duplication. Please let me know what you think!

hum there's quite a lot of repetition here. You don't need the two separate workflows.

One is enough, where:

on:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      install-all:
        description: "If true, install all slices in slices/"
        type: boolean
        default: false
        required: false
  push:
    branches:
      - "main"
    paths:
      - ".github/**"
  pull-request:
    branches:
      - "main"
    paths:
      - ".github/**"
  schedule:
    # Run at 00:00 every day.
    # Ref: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/crontab.5.html
    - cron: "0 0 * * *"

and then you can have a dedicated job just for creating the "installation" matrix

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix: ${{ fromJSON(needs.prepare-install.outputs.install-matrix) }}

[cjdcordeiro]

Why does the matrix need to be different?

in both cases the matrix is:

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        branch: []
        arch: []

So you'll just need a job, before the matrix one, to create that map and pass it, as a JSON output, to the matrix job

[rebornplusplus]

Why does the matrix need to be different?

in both cases the matrix is:

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        branch: []
        arch: []

If I have a PR (or push) targeted at ubuntu-22.04 branch, there needs not be any branch in the matrix there. It should simply run against that PR ref (or branch).

[cjdcordeiro]

But that's precisely where you can apply DRY. When there's a PR or a push against a specific branch, your matrix should look like:

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        branch: ["ubuntu-22.04"]
        arch: [amd64, ...]

And then your checkout action simply needs to use that ref

[rebornplusplus]

On push, that matrix will work, yeah. But I don't think it will for PRs though. Because, if you "checkout" the ubuntu-22.04 branch for a PR targeted at that branch, you won't be able to determine the changed files in that PR. Because the files will not be checked out. The new files will be part of the refs/pull/<pr_number>/merge github.ref.

[cjdcordeiro]

On push, that matrix will work, yeah. But I don't think it will for PRs though. Because, if you "checkout" the ubuntu-22.04 branch for a PR targeted at that branch, you won't be able to determine the changed files in that PR. Because the files will not be checked out. The new files will be part of the refs/pull/<pr_number>/merge github.ref.

So you're saying that what you have now won't work?
https://github.com/canonical/chisel-releases/pull/119/files#diff-78bf4a33beef5f0e82b2661553d1e9fa2c2a17a5508f3be8eb5f1bf2e2fb1766R38-R41

Cause you are already checkout out the ref given as an input. If that works, what's the problem with putting that variable in a matrix?

[rebornplusplus]

Added the changes as discussed in our sync: 8682974. Please take a look.

[rebornplusplus]

Do you have any test runs?

Yup.

1. Installing all slices: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7911557498/job/21595963180
   • This is triggered by push to the main branch.
2. Installing slices changed in a PR: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7868931941/job/21596112188?pr=2

[cjdcordeiro]

Do you have any test runs?

Yup.

1. Installing all slices: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7911557498/job/21595963180

   • This is triggered by push to the main branch.

2. Installing slices changed in a PR: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7868931941/job/21596112188?pr=2

great, thanks.

That made me realize something though -> the test should be fixed such that it ignores the arch if there's no deb for it upstream. Otherwise we'll get this everyday: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7911557498/job/21595963413, which is a false positive

[rebornplusplus]

That made me realize something though -> the test should be fixed such that it ignores the arch if there's no deb for it upstream. Otherwise we'll get this everyday: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7911557498/job/21595963413, which is a false positive

Are you practically saying to ignore these errors on a chisel cut run?

error: slice package "dotnet-host" missing from archive

(I wonder if there is any other way to check if the deb exists or not for a particular Ubuntu release, components and suites other than checking the chisel cut error.)

If so, then I can add an option to the script (something like --ignore-pkg-missing) which we should only use when we are trying to install all slices. If we use the option for PRs, then we might have contributors adding packages like foo which does not exist anywhere.

[cjdcordeiro]

check if the deb exists or not for a particular Ubuntu release

y this is what I'm saying. If it doesn't exist, it shouldn't throw an error. Like, .net only exists for arm64 and amd64, so, we'll be seeing errors everyday because of that, when in reality it's not an error. The script should only test the chisel cut for slices whose packages exist upstream, for the given release and arch

[rebornplusplus]

I have added the option to ignore missing packages.

• When installing all slices, if a package has not been found in the archive, there will be no errors.
• In other cases, where we are only installing changed slices/paths, missing packages will not be ignored and will result in an error like before. This is useful in PRs

I have also re-written the "install-slices" script from bash to python for better maintainability.

---

Example run for a PR: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7868931941/job/21646126428?pr=2
Example run for installing all slices: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7928229576/job/21646097589

[cjdcordeiro]

I have added the option to ignore missing packages.

• When installing all slices, if a package has not been found in the archive, there will be no errors.
• In other cases, where we are only installing changed slices/paths, missing packages will not be ignored and will result in an error like before. This is useful in PRs

I have also re-written the "install-slices" script from bash to python for better maintainability.

Example run for a PR: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7868931941/job/21646126428?pr=2 Example run for installing all slices: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7928229576/job/21646097589

I'm wondering...

• When installing all slices, if a package has not been found in the archive, there will be no errors.

I tend to agree, but what if the package is removed from upstream? Like, completely...which afaik can happen for dev releases (noble atm). Then we would end up with a SDF in the release that doesn't work, at all.

I think the check should be: the package must exist for at least 1 arch. If it doesn't exist, at all, for a given release, then we'll be shooting ourselves in the foot everytime we open a new release, cause we won't be able to easily port the previous release onto the new one...not without potentially adding SDFs for packages that don't exist.

• In other cases, where we are only installing changed slices/paths, missing packages will not be ignored and will result in an error like before. This is useful in PRs

Why? It's the same rationale as above...someone could try to add an SDF for a package that doesn't belong on that release.

---

I think there should be a check, before the multi-arch matrix, to validate that the slices can be tested - i.e. the package exists in the release.

[rebornplusplus]

I have changed the script. The current behaviour of the script is the following:

• if --ignore-missing is set, it will first check if all the packages specified in the files passed are available for any arch in the archive. If it is, then it will filter out the arch-specific missing packages and only install whichever packages are available for that arch.
• otherwise, if unset, there will be no such checks. It will dumbly try to install every slice in the files.

We are only passing the --ignore-missing flag whenever we are installing all slices. Because of the new change, we will be assured that no package has been removed from the archive. And for scenarios where we are not passing --ignore-missing, we can be assured that whatever slice definition files we pass to the script, the script will try to install.
In short, we will know if we have any estranged packages in our repo/PRs.

---

Usage info of the script

usage: install-slices [-h] --arch ARCH --release RELEASE [--ignore-missing] [file ...]

Verify slice definition files by installing the slices

positional arguments:
  file               Chisel slice definition file(s)

options:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  --arch ARCH        Package architecture
  --release RELEASE  Chisel-releases branch name or directory
  --ignore-missing   Ignore arch-specific package not found in archive errors. If set, also
                     ensure that packages exist for any arch.

---

Example runs:

• install-all: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7958827170
• only changes(PR): https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/7958884396?pr=2

[cjdcordeiro]

With a few additional changes you should also be able to significantly increase the pylint score.

[rebornplusplus]

Example runs:

• install-all: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/8000568097
• PR: https://github.com/rebornplusplus/chisel-releases/actions/runs/8000579476/job/21850229427?pr=2

[cjdcordeiro]

great! thanks! lgtm. let's see it in action

[cjdcordeiro]

I'll merge it once we get a 👍 from @linostar

[linostar]

LGTM, great work!