Testing infrastructure — automated e2e CI gate

[castrojo]

Summary

Dakota needs a reliable automated testing loop: build → boot → verify → report. With the e2e workflow now on main (GNOME 50 QEMU gate via projectbluefin/testsuite), the loop is self-driving via GitHub Actions.

Child issues

• dakota testlab automation should not require manual runner bring-up #524 — Testlab automation should not require manual runner bring-up (P0)
• Ghost lab BST gate fails resolving gnome-build-meta junction during PR 525 dispatch #527 — Ghost lab BST gate fails resolving gnome-build-meta junction
• ujust devmode can't find image #180 — ujust devmode can't find image (P1)

Definition of done

e2e.yml gates PRs automatically on every push. The testsuite runs in QEMU on GHA and produces a clear pass/fail. No human intervention required.

Notes

The tests:pass label replaces the old lab:pass label. Merge is gated on CI e2e results, not manual hardware lab runs.

Dakota · issue pipeline

  ✓  triage     needs kind/ + area/ then /approve
  ·  discussing —
  ▶  queued     —
  ·  claimed    —
  ·  done       —

area: area/testing, area/ci   priority: priority/p0
maintainer: —
reporter: comment /claim to fix it yourself, or wait for a contributor

[github-actions]

✅ Approved. The community has found its way here.

Before this goes to the build queue it needs acceptance criteria — the spec a contributor or agent will implement against. Add it to the issue body, then apply needs-human/agent-ready to open it up.

Wranglers: write acceptance criteria, then comment /ready.

[castrojo]

Additional child issues filed via gap analysis 2026-05-27:

• just debug-session: guided VM boot with serial + journal capture #558 just debug-session — guided VM boot with serial + journal capture
• boot-fast: print OTLP report path when ujust report is run inside session #554 boot-fast OTLP retrieval hint