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Local Debian VM Validation

For Linux clean-machine validation, the preferred local path is a disposable Debian VM under qemu/kvm, not the long-lived host workstation and not a container.

For Phase 9C, the preferred handoff path is now OracleTestVMs with the debian-13-gnome-wayland profile backed by libvirt. The local standalone libvirt flow below remains useful when you want a purely local smoke environment outside the managed OracleTestVMs path.

OracleTestVMs Preferred Flow

Use the repo-owned helper:

./scripts/linux/otvm-appimage-validation.sh create

That flow:

  • creates a fresh Debian 13 GNOME Wayland lease through OracleTestVMs
  • expects OracleTestVMs to be configured for libvirt-backed Debian leases
  • uploads the latest built ObjcMarkdown AppImage
  • uploads a small set of sample Markdown documents:
    • Resources/sample-commonmark.md
    • InlineStyleDemo.md
    • TableRenderDemo.md
    • README.md
  • writes handoff instructions to dist/otvm/linux/<lease-id>/handoff.txt

The handoff includes:

  • SSH connection command
  • RDP host, username, and password
  • the guest payload directory under /home/tester/ObjcMarkdownValidation

Destroy a finished lease with:

./scripts/linux/otvm-appimage-validation.sh destroy <lease-id>

Practical Approach

Two levels are useful:

  • quick visual smoke test: boot a Debian live ISO and attach validation media containing the AppImage
  • repeatable release validation: install Debian once into a qcow2 base image, then boot a fresh overlay qcow2 for every test run

The live ISO is good for answering "does this AppImage launch on a clean Debian desktop?" quickly. The installed base plus overlays is the better long-term release-validation path.

Host-Side Scripts

run-debian-appimage-validation.sh supports four main flows:

  1. create-media Builds dist/linux-validation/media/objcmarkdown-validation.iso containing the AppImage plus guest helper scripts.
  2. boot-live Boots a disposable Debian live session with that validation ISO attached.
  3. create-base Boots the Debian ISO with a writable qcow2 disk so you can install Debian once.
  4. boot-overlay Boots a transient overlay qcow2 on top of the installed base image and forwards host TCP port 2222 to guest port 22.

Current Defaults

The script defaults match this machine:

  • libvirt URI: qemu:///session
  • live ISO: ~/Downloads/debian-live-13.4.0-amd64-gnome.iso
  • base image path: dist/linux-validation/vms/debian13-base.qcow2

Quick Live Smoke Test

Create validation media:

./scripts/linux/run-debian-appimage-validation.sh create-media

Boot the live ISO:

./scripts/linux/run-debian-appimage-validation.sh boot-live

Inside the guest, run:

bash /run/media/$USER/OBJCMD_VALIDATION/validate-appimage-guest.sh --smoke-gui

That performs the repo-side packaged runtime inspection pass, then launches the AppImage briefly and captures a screenshot when a guest screenshot tool is available.

Repeatable Overlay Flow

Create the base install VM once:

./scripts/linux/run-debian-appimage-validation.sh create-base

After installing Debian into the base disk, recommended one-time guest prep is:

  • install openssh-server if you want host-side SSH access into overlay guests
  • confirm the desktop environment and display settings match the release-validation target
  • shut the VM down cleanly and keep the base qcow2 unchanged afterward

Then launch a disposable overlay for each run:

./scripts/linux/run-debian-appimage-validation.sh boot-overlay

If the base guest has SSH enabled, the guest will be reachable from the host at:

ssh -p 2222 <guest-user>@127.0.0.1

Inside the guest, run the same validate-appimage-guest.sh helper from the mounted validation media.