linux_patch_manager/tasks/lessons.md

Linux Patch Manager — Lessons Learned

2026-04-24: CI/CD First, Not Manual Builds

Pattern: When creating release packages, set up CI/CD pipeline (Gitea Actions) FIRST before manually building. Why: Manual builds are one-off and not reproducible. CI/CD ensures every push/tag produces a fresh, consistent package built on the correct target OS (Ubuntu 24.04), with proper glibc compatibility. Action: Always create .gitea/workflows/ pipeline for automated builds. Use scripts/build-package.sh only for local dev testing.

2026-04-24: Verify Runner Before Workflow

Pattern: Before creating Gitea Actions workflows, verify the act-runner is registered and online. Why: A workflow file without a running runner is dead code. Action: Check runner status via Gitea API or web UI before assuming CI/CD will work.

2026-04-24: Dig Deeper on Infrastructure Issues

Pattern: When troubleshooting infrastructure, investigate fully — don't stop at the surface error. Why: The runner was crash-looping with a content-type error. The surface cause was a wrong GITEA_INSTANCE_URL, but the deeper issues were: a corrupted /home/§echo directory from unresolved §§secret() substitution, corrupted authorized_keys entries (§echo comment, sh-ed25519 with missing 's'), and stale runner registration. Action: When troubleshooting, check for cascading issues: file system artifacts, config corruption, stale state. Don't fix one thing and declare victory.

2026-04-24: Don't Remove SSH Keys Without Verifying Which Key You're Using

Pattern: When cleaning up authorized_keys, verify which key is your current access path before removing entries. Why: I removed the '§echo' key entry thinking it was corrupted, but that was the key I was using to SSH into the runner LXC. Now I'm locked out. Action: Before modifying authorized_keys, check ssh-add -l or verify which key file maps to which entry. Never remove a key you're actively using.

2026-04-24: Docker-in-Docker Fails in LXC

Pattern: Docker-in-Docker (spawning sibling containers from a Docker-based act_runner) fails with SIGKILL (exit 137) in LXC environments, even with --privileged mode. Why: LXC containers don't support the full Docker daemon nesting required for act_runner's Docker mode. Containers get killed after ~45 seconds regardless of privileged flag. Action: For LXC-based runners, install act_runner as a native binary on the host with systemd service. Use runs-on: linux (maps to linux:host) to execute steps directly on the LXC host. Pre-install build tools (Rust, Node.js) on the host.

2026-04-24: Gitea Actions Runner — Native Binary vs Docker

Pattern: For self-hosted Gitea Actions runners on LXC, use native act_runner binary with systemd service, not Docker container. Why: Docker-in-Docker fails in LXC (SIGKILL after 45s). Native binary runs directly on the host, supports linux:host label for direct execution, and avoids all nesting issues. Setup:

1. Download: curl -sL https://gitea.com/gitea/act_runner/releases/download/v0.3.1/act_runner-0.3.1-linux-amd64 -o /home/echo/act_runner
2. Register: ./act_runner register --instance http://<GITEA_IP>:3000 --token <TOKEN> --labels "ubuntu-latest:docker://ubuntu:24.04,linux:host,docker:host"
3. Systemd service: /etc/systemd/system/act-runner.service
4. GITEA_INSTANCE_URL must use internal IP (http://192.168.2.189:3000), NOT external domain (https://gitea.moon-dragon.us returns HTML, not API protobuf)

2026-04-24: No GitHub Action Dependencies in Gitea Workflows

Pattern: Don't use uses: actions/checkout@v4, actions/cache@v3, etc. in Gitea Actions workflows. Why: Self-hosted runners may not have reliable internet access to github.com to clone those actions. The runner gets stuck cloning GitHub repos. Action: Use pure shell steps: git clone ${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}.git . for checkout, skip caching, and avoid any uses: directives that reference github.com.

CI/CD Runner Dual-Registration Root Cause (2026-04-24)

Problem: CI jobs kept failing with 'apt-get: command not found' and 'curl: command not found' despite multiple PATH fixes.

Root Cause: TWO runners registered with the same name 'echo-runner-01':

• Docker container runner (ID 5) - running inside minimal Alpine container where apt-get doesn't exist
• Native systemd runner (ID 6) - running on Ubuntu 24.04 LXC host

The Docker container intercepted some jobs and ran them in its Alpine environment. The native runner ran other jobs on the host.

Fix: Stopped and removed the Docker container runner. Switched workflow to runs-on: ubuntu-latest which uses ubuntu-latest:docker://ubuntu:24.04 label to create proper Ubuntu 24.04 containers for each job.

Lesson: When debugging CI failures, check for multiple runners with the same name. The error pattern (some jobs succeeding, some failing) was the key clue that different execution contexts were involved. Stop after 2 attempts and diagnose root cause instead of making 5+ superficial fixes.

CI/CD Runner Dual-Registration Root Cause (2026-04-24)

Problem: CI jobs kept failing with apt-get/curl command not found despite multiple PATH fixes.

Root Cause: TWO runners registered with same name echo-runner-01:

• Docker container runner (ID 5) - minimal Alpine, no apt-get
• Native systemd runner (ID 6) - Ubuntu 24.04 LXC host
• Docker container intercepted some jobs and ran them in Alpine where tools dont exist

Fix: Stopped Docker container runner. Switched to runs-on: ubuntu-latest with docker://ubuntu:24.04 containers.

Lesson: Check for multiple runners with same name. Stop after 2 attempts and diagnose root cause.

CI/CD Runner Dual-Registration Root Cause (2026-04-24)

Problem: CI jobs kept failing with