2025-08-21 (Thursday)

[AkihiroSuda]

How to join

• Date: 2025-08-21 (Thursday) 05:30 UTC (Wednesday 22:30 PDT, 07:30 CEST, 11:00 IST, 14:30 JST) - 06:30
• Zoom link: https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meetings/lima

Attendees

@AkihiroSuda @abiosoft @jandubois @dharsanb @unsuman @afbjorklund

Agenda

Note taker: @AkihiroSuda

• GSoC progress

  • refactor: move driver specific code to drivers #3770
    • Current progress: https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C08KKELMQ92/p1755727783760629
      • vz: an error related to validating config such as arch: x86_64 -> post on Slack -- @unsuman
      • PR can be split in one or two days -- @unsuman
      • CI failures are probably irrelevant to the PR (except trivial lint failures) -- @jandubois
      • For final submission, @unsuman will publish a github gist that describes what he did during the GSoC term -- @unsuman
    • Needs rebase, but passing the integration tests is more important. Maintainers can help rebasing, silencing lint errors, etc. if any assistance is needed. -- @AkihiroSuda
    • If there is any change that cannot easily pass the CI, just revert it for now, and revisit it later after the other parts are merged -- @AkihiroSuda
    • The PR should be ideally split to multiple ones, but a single huge PR is also ok-ish if no time is left to split -- @AkihiroSuda

• Making it possible to enable `--preserve-env` by default #3852

  • Can be discussed in GitHub -- @jandubois
  • No need to block propagating *PATH -- @jandubois

• AC & DC Apple Container external driver for macOS #3839 Docker Container external driver for Linux #3840

  • "ac" isn't a descriptive name. Can't we just call it "apple-container" ?
  • how to avoid to be confused with template://docker ? -- @AkihiroSuda
  • apple one is more important -- @afbjorklund
  • apple-container shouldn't be just called "container" -- @afbjorklund
    • can be called "container" if it covers both apple container, docker container, and potentially other container -- @AkihiroSuda
  • the drivers should be out of the main repo -- @jandubois
    • the main repo is not ready yet to split as the API is instable -- @afbjorklund @AkihiroSuda
  • some core drivers should remain in the main repo -- @abiosoft
    • qemu, vz, and wsl2 will stay in the main repo -- @jandubois

• Driver API stability

  • Experimental in v2.0 . Maybe GA in v2.1 or in v3.0? -- @AkihiroSuda
  • For negotiating API compatibility across a driver and a core, the version number should be compared (-- @jandubois) or capability strings should be compared (-- @AkihiroSuda) ?
    • Docker API uses the version number -- @jandubois
    • For v2.0, we can just expose the version number. We may extend the API later on demand -- @AkihiroSuda

• generic/ext/external/ssh Experiment with managing external machines with lima #2000

  • "ext" is confusing ("external", "extended", ...) -- @AkihiroSuda
  • "ssh" is also confusing because "ssh" appears in several other places in Lima -- somebody
  • Create a GitHub Discussion for polling? -- @jandubois
  • The transport might not be always SSH protocol? -- @abiosoft

• social media accounts? (X, Linkedin, Mastodon, etc.) -- @unsuman

  • Maybe 2 or 3 media -- @AkihiroSuda
  • Maintaining accounts is hard -- @jandubois
  • just posting meeting notes, updates, etc. should be fine -- @unsuman
  • @unsuman is happy to continue contributing and help positing to social accounts after gsoc -- @unsuman

• (Feel free to suggest more agenda in the comment form)

Next meetings

• Regular meetings should probably happen monthly
  • 3rd Thursday of every month, but can be adjusted on demand and availability
  • The schedule should be announced a couple of weeks before the meeting, not randomly -- @abiosoft
    • Around two weeks before the meeting -- @AkihiroSuda
• iCal link?
  • https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meetings/lima?view=month
• Who is the secretary (create the calendar, github discussion) -- @jandubois
  • Tentatively myself, but help is wanted, especially for taking notes. Zoom's AI can take the note though. -- @AkihiroSuda
• note taking tool? -- @jandubois
• notes.cncf.io was suggested but does not seem to work Consider setting up regular meeting slots #3798 (comment)
• meeting info should be mentioned in the top-level README too -- @jandubois
• Ad-hoc meetings can be set up too. Probably we should have one at the end of the month as a wrap-up of GSoC.
  • 26 (Tue), for the wrap-up
    • Reviewing the final result (github gist)
    • Find out the remaining tasks for the vm driver infra in Lima v2.0

Tasks

• Set up the meeting for 26 (Tue)
  • 2025-08-26 (Tuesday) #3883
• Set up social media accounts
• Update README for the meeting note
  • README.md: add meeting information #3884
• GSoC: make the PR mergeable. Maintainers can help rebasing, fixing lint errors, etc.

[afbjorklund]

• generic/ext/external/ssh: Experiment with managing external machines with lima #2000
  • "ext" is cryptic can be interpreted as both extended and external
  • name doesn't "work" now, after internal/external driver framework
  • the docker-machine driver was called "generic" (as in generic cloud*)
  • the minikube driver was eventually renamed to "ssh" (after a long time)

---

* https://github.com/machine-drivers/docker.github.io/blob/346a066b6886f3deab23383f14822c0a32ec38d8/machine/drivers/generic.md

This is useful if you are using a provider that Machine does not support directly or if you would like to import an existing host to allow Docker Machine to manage.

[AkihiroSuda]

AI-generated meeting note

Quick Recap

The team discussed environment variable propagation and bug reports related to architecture validation, while also addressing CI failures and testing concerns. They reviewed driver naming conventions and decided to move external drivers to separate repositories from the main Lima repo, with plans to maintain the API as experimental in Lima 2.0. The team established regular meeting schedules and discussed using AI for meeting notes, while also addressing the need for written summaries of GSOC project results and infrastructure improvements.

Next Steps

• Ansuman to fix the bug where architecture type x86_64 for vz is not returning an error when it should.
• Ansuman to share the error message and command to reproduce the issue on Slack.
• Ansuman to decide by tomorrow whether to split the PR or proceed with a single PR.
• Ansuman to fix the validation config issue causing CI failures.
• Ansuman to prepare a gist containing completed work and remaining tasks for GSoC final submission.
• Anders to create a discussion for brainstorming name suggestions for the external SSH driver.
• Anders to keep the external driver code up to date while name negotiations continue.
• Akihiro to schedule the next meeting for August 26th.
• Akihiro to continue creating meeting entries in GitHub discussions.
• Ansuman to handle social media accounts for posting monthly meeting updates and project news.

Summary

Environment Variables and CI Issues:
The team discussed environment variable propagation from host to guest, with Jan suggesting further discussion via GitHub as the current proposal might not cover all use cases. Ansuman reported a bug related to architecture type validation for vz, which he will share on Slack, and discussed splitting a PR into smaller parts. The team also addressed CI failures, with Jan noting some flakiness in GitHub tests, and Akihiro advised Ansuman to proceed with merging despite CI errors if they are not actionable. Ansuman mentioned preparing a data gist for final submissions, which will be made public as it will be added to the TO 25 archive.

Driver Repository and API Updates:
The team discussed driver naming conventions and the decision to move external drivers to separate repositories from the main Lima repo, with existing core drivers like WSL2, Apple Container, and QEMU remaining in the main repo. They agreed that the API would remain experimental in Lima 2.0, with API version checking to be implemented to ensure compatibility between drivers and Lima. Anders reported that he had rebased the previous driver on the framework and it was now compatible, though it still requires manual configuration for pre-provisioned machines.

External Driver Naming Convention Discussion:
The team discussed naming conventions for external drivers, particularly regarding SSH implementation. Anders explained that while SSH is currently used for provisioning and communication between Lima and external machines, it's not necessarily the only protocol that could be used in the future. Abiola suggested avoiding the term "SSH" in the naming as it implies a specific protocol, and Jan proposed "unmanaged" as an alternative name but acknowledged it wasn't ideal. The team agreed to create a poll for brainstorming alternative names before making a final decision.

Establishing Regular Meeting Schedule:
The team discussed scheduling regular meetings, with Akihiro confirming the next meeting would be on September 18th. They agreed to establish a regular cadence, with Akihiro taking responsibility for scheduling and creating meeting entries, while notes would be rotated among attendees. Abiola emphasized the importance of fixed dates for better planning, and Jan suggested using the calendar's iCal link for easier meeting discovery.

AI Meeting Notes and Updates:
The team discussed using AI for meeting notes and agreed to add meeting information to the repository's README with links to the calendar and meetings category. Ansuman volunteered to handle social media posting for the project, and the team decided to schedule their next meeting for July 26th. They also discussed the need for a written summary of the GSOC project's final results and infrastructure improvements before the next meeting, with Anders noting that the framework's API would be tested through additional drivers.

[AkihiroSuda]

Corrections

Ansuman to handle social media accounts for posting monthly meeting updates and project news.

Not true at this point, as he is not a maintainer yet.

Environment Variables and CI Issues:

This note seems to mix up the --preserve-env stuff and the VM driver stuff. These topics are completely orthogonal.

existing core drivers like WSL2, Apple Container, and QEMU remaining in the main repo

No, Apple Container is not an existing core driver.

next meeting for July 26th

August 26th.