Firecracker uses a Docker container to standardize the build process. This also fixes the build tools and dependencies to specific versions. Every once in a while, something needs to be updated. To do this, a new container image needs to be built locally, then published to the AWS ECR registry. The Firecracker CI suite must also be updated to use the new image.
- Access to the
fcuvm
ECR repository. - The
docker
package installed locally. You should already have this if you've ever built Firecracker from source. - Access to both an
x86_64
andaarch64
machines to build the container images. - Ensure
aws --version
is >=1.17.10.
This step is optional but recommended, to be on top of Python package changes.
./tools/devtool shell --privileged
poetry update --lock --directory tools/devctr/
This will change poetry.lock
, which you can commit with your changes.
-
Login to the Docker organization in a shell. Make sure that your account has access to the repository:
aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1 \ | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin public.ecr.aws
For non-TTY devices, although not recommended a less secure approach can be used:
docker login --username AWS --password \ $(aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1) public.ecr.aws
-
Navigate to the Firecracker directory. Verify that you have the latest container image locally.
docker images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v26 8d00deb17f7a 2 weeks ago 2.41GB
-
Make your necessary changes, if any, to the Dockerfile. There's one for all the architectures in the Firecracker source tree.
-
Commit the changes, if any.
-
Build a new container image with the updated Dockerfile.
tools/devtool build_devctr
-
Verify that the new image exists.
docker images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm latest 1f9852368efb 2 weeks ago 2.36GB public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v26 8d00deb17f7a 2 weeks ago 2.41GB
-
Tag the new image with the next available version
X
and the architecture you're on. Note that this will not always be "current version in devtool + 1", as sometimes that version might already be used on feature branches. Always check the "Image Tags" on the fcuvm repository to make sure you do not accidentally overwrite an existing image.As a sanity check, run:
docker pull public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:vX
and verify that you get an error message along the lines of
Error response from daemon: manifest for public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:vX not found: manifest unknown: Requested image not found
This means the version you've chosen does not exist yet, and you are good to go.
docker tag 1f9852368efb public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27_x86_64 docker images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm latest 1f9852368efb 1 week ago public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v27_x86_64 1f9852368efb 1 week ago public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v26 8d00deb17f7a 2 weeks ago
-
Push the image.
docker push public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27_x86_64
Login to the aarch64
build machine.
Steps 1-4 are identical across architectures, change x86_64
to aarch64
.
Then continue with the above steps:
-
Build a new container image with the updated Dockerfile.
tools/devtool build_devctr
-
Verify that the new image exists.
docker images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm latest 1f9852368efb 2 minutes ago public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v26 8d00deb17f7a 2 weeks ago
-
Tag the new image with the next available version
X
and the architecture you're on. Note that this will not always be "current version in devtool + 1", as sometimes that version might already be used on feature branches. Always check the "Image Tags" on the fcuvm repository to make sure you do not accidentally overwrite an existing image.As a sanity check, run:
docker pull public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:vX
and verify that you get an error message along the lines of
Error response from daemon: manifest for public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:vX not found: manifest unknown: Requested image not found
This means the version you've chosen does not exist yet, and you are good to go.
docker tag 1f9852368efb public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27_aarch64 docker images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm latest 1f9852368efb public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v27_aarch64 1f9852368efb public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm v26 8d00deb17f7a
-
Push the image.
docker push public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27_aarch64
-
Create a manifest to point the latest container version to each specialized image, per architecture.
docker manifest create public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27 \ public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27_x86_64 public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27_aarch64 docker manifest push public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27
-
Update the image tag in the
devtool
script. Commit and push the change.PREV_TAG=v26 CURR_TAG=v27 sed -i "s%DEVCTR_IMAGE_TAG=\"$PREV_TAG\"%DEVCTR_IMAGE_TAG=\"$CURR_TAG\"%" tools/devtool
Check out the
rust-vmm-container
readme
for additional troubleshooting steps and guidelines.
docker manifest is only supported when experimental cli features are enabled
See this article for explanations and fix.
Either fetch and run it locally on another machine than the one you used to build it, or clean up any artifacts from the build machine and fetch.
docker system prune -a
docker images
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
tools/devtool shell
[Firecracker devtool] About to pull docker image public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v15
[Firecracker devtool] Continue?
docker push public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm:v27
The push refers to repository [public.ecr.aws/firecracker/fcuvm]
e2b5ee0c4e6b: Preparing
0fbb5fd5f156: Preparing
...
a1aa3da2a80a: Waiting
denied: requested access to the resource is denied
Only a Firecracker maintainer can update the container image. If you are one, ask a member of the team to add you to the AWS ECR repository and retry.
Tags can be deleted from the AWS ECR interface.
Also, pushing the same tag twice will overwrite the initial content.
If you see unrelated Python
errors, it's likely because the dev container
pulls Python 3
at build time. Python 3
means different minor versions on
different platforms, and is not backwards compatible. So it's entirely possible
that docker build
has pulled in unwanted Python
dependencies.
To include only your changes, an alternative to the method described above
is to make the changes inside the container, instead of in the Dockerfile
.
Let's say you want to update
cargo-audit
(random example).
-
Enter the container as
root
.tools/devtool shell -p
-
Make the changes locally. Do not exit the container.
cargo install cargo-audit --force
-
Find your running container.
docker ps CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED e9f0487fdcb9 fcuvm:v14 "bash" 53 seconds ago
-
Commit the modified container to a new image. Use the
container ID
.docker commit e9f0487fdcb9 fcuvm:v15_x86_64
docker image ls REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED fcuvm v15_x86_64 514581e654a6 18 seconds ago fcuvm v14 c8581789ead3 2 months ago
-
Repeat for
aarch64
. -
Create and push the manifest.