How to test your VM locally

You can test your VM locally without uploading each version on the aleph.im network.

To do this, you'll want to use the --fake-data-program or -f argument of the VM Supervisor.

0. Build the required squashfs volumes

Build or download the required squashfs volumes:

cd ./runtimes/aleph-debian-11-python/
sudo bash ./create_disk_image.sh

cd ../..

ℹ️ This does not work in a container since debootstrap requires mounting volumes.

This will create a local runtime root filesystem in ./runtimes/aleph-debian-11-python/rootfs.squashfs.

cd ./examples/volumes/
bash ./build_squashfs.sh

cd ../..

This will create a local example read-only volume named ./example/volumes/volume-venv.squashfs.

1. In a Docker container

Run the developer image, mounting the two generated volumes:

docker run -ti --rm \
  -v "$(pwd)/runtimes/aleph-debian-11-python/rootfs.squashfs:/opt/aleph-vm/runtimes/aleph-debian-11-python/rootfs.squashfs:ro" \
  -v "$(pwd)/examples/volumes/volume-venv.squashfs:/opt/aleph-vm/examples/volumes/volume-venv.squashfs:ro" \
  --device /dev/kvm \
  -p 4020:4020 \
  docker.io/alephim/vm-supervisor-dev

Or launch this command using:

bash ./docker/run_vm_supervisor.sh

Within the container, run the supervisor with fake data:

python -m vm_supervisor --print-settings --very-verbose --system-logs --fake-data-program ./examples/example_fastapi

ℹ️ The command is in your .bash_history, press key up to skip typing it.

2. On your system

2.a. Install the system requirements

Refer to the aleph.im VM supervisor documentation to install the system requirements.

2.b. Run the supervisor with fake data:

python -m vm_supervisor --print-settings --very-verbose --system-logs --fake-data-program ./examples/example_fastapi