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Simone 90a4396443 feat: enhance documentation and scripts for in-VM Git cloning and template setup

- Updated README.md to reflect the new in-VM git clone feature with `-UseGitClone`.
- Modified Setup-Host.ps1 to correct VMX path references.
- Revised various documentation files (ARCHITECTURE.md, CI-FLOW.md, HOST-SETUP.md, WINDOWS-TEMPLATE-SETUP.md) to include updated paths and features.
- Added Setup-GiteaSSH.md for SSH configuration instructions.
- Archived outdated documentation and updated README.md for clarity on current resources.

2026-05-10 23:03:56 +02:00

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Architecture — Local CI/CD System

Overview

A fully local, isolated CI/CD pipeline running on a Windows host using:

Gitea as the self-hosted Git server + CI platform
act_runner as the job executor (runs on the Windows host)
VMware Workstation for ephemeral build VMs (linked clones)
WinRM / PowerShell Remoting for communication with build VMs
MSBuild / dotnet CLI executing inside the guest VM only

The runner host never executes build tools directly. Its only role is orchestration: creating, driving, and destroying VMs.

System Diagram

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  DEVELOPER WORKSTATION                                                  │
│                                                                         │
│  git push → Gitea (self-hosted, LAN)                                    │
└───────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            │  HTTP/HTTPS (Gitea Actions API)
                            ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  WINDOWS HOST  (i9-10900X · 64 GB RAM · NVMe SSD)                       │
│                                                                         │
│  ┌───────────────────┐     polls job queue      ┌──────────────────┐    │
│  │   Gitea Server    │◄────────────────────────►│   act_runner     │    │
│  │  (Actions API)    │   reports status/logs    │  (Windows svc)   │    │
│  └───────────────────┘                          └────────┬─────────┘    │
│                                                          │              │
│                                           calls Invoke-CIJob.ps1        │
│                                                          │              │
│                                                          ▼              │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Orchestrator Scripts (PowerShell)                                │  │
│  │                                                                   │  │
│  │  New-BuildVM.ps1 ──► vmrun.exe (linked clone from template)       │  │
│  │  Wait-VMReady.ps1 ─► Test-WSMan poll loop                         │  │
│  │  Invoke-RemoteBuild.ps1 ► PSSession + Invoke-Command              │  │
│  │  Get-BuildArtifacts.ps1 ► Copy-Item -FromSession                  │  │
│  │  Remove-BuildVM.ps1 ───► vmrun stop + deleteVM                    │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                  │  vmrun.exe (VMware CLI)              │
│                                  ▼                                      │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  VMware Workstation                                               │  │
│  │                                                                   │  │
│  │  Template VM ──snapshot "BaseClean"──┐                            │  │
│  │                                      ├── Clone_Job_001.vmx        │  │
│  │                                      ├── Clone_Job_002.vmx        │  │
│  │                                      └── Clone_Job_003.vmx        │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│                                  │  WinRM :5986 HTTPS (192.168.79.0/24 NAT) │
└──────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┘
                                   │
          ┌────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┐
          │                        │                          │
          ▼                        ▼                          ▼
┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐
│  Build VM #1     │    │  Build VM #2     │    │  Build VM #N     │
│  (ephemeral)     │    │  (ephemeral)     │    │  (ephemeral)     │
│                  │    │                  │    │                  │
│  VS Build Tools  │    │  VS Build Tools  │    │  VS Build Tools  │
│  2026 (v145)     │    │  2026 (v145)     │    │  2026 (v145)     │
│  .NET SDK 10     │    │  .NET SDK 10     │    │  .NET SDK 10     │
│  Python 3.13.3   │    │  Python 3.13.3   │    │  Python 3.13.3   │
│  WinRM enabled   │    │  WinRM enabled   │    │  WinRM enabled   │
│                  │    │                  │    │                  │
│  > unzip src     │    │  > unzip src     │    │  > unzip src     │
│  > python build  │    │  > python build  │    │  > python build  │
│  > dist/         │    │  > dist/         │    │  > dist/         │
│                  │    │                  │    │                  │
│  [DESTROYED]     │    │  [DESTROYED]     │    │  [DESTROYED]     │
└──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘

Component Descriptions

Gitea (Self-hosted Git + CI)

Hosts Git repositories
Provides Gitea Actions (GitHub Actions-compatible YAML workflow engine)
Manages job queue and reports build status to commits/PRs
Stores build artifacts uploaded by act_runner

act_runner (Job Executor)

Runs as a Windows service on the host
Polls Gitea Actions API for pending jobs
Executes .gitea/workflows/*.yml steps
Configured with container.enabled: false — does NOT use Docker
Each step runs as a PowerShell command on the host (orchestration only)
Supports capacity: N for concurrent job execution (N parallel VMs)

VMware Workstation + vmrun CLI

Manages the template VM and all ephemeral clones
vmrun.exe is the command-line interface for all VM lifecycle operations
Linked clones are used: each build VM is a delta clone from a frozen template snapshot
- Clone creation: ~5–15 seconds (vs 60–120 seconds for full clone)
- Disk footprint: ~2–5 GB per clone (vs 40–80 GB for full clone)
- Tradeoff: template snapshot must remain intact

WinRM / PowerShell Remoting

Default transport for remote build execution inside VMs
Port: 5986 (HTTPS, self-signed cert, AllowUnencrypted=false)
Authentication: Basic over HTTPS (-SkipCACheck for lab self-signed cert)
Used for:
- Transferring source: Compress-Archive on host → WinRM copy → Expand-Archive in guest
- Running build commands (Invoke-Command)
- Packaging artifacts (Compress-Archive in guest) and collecting via Copy-Item -FromSession

Build Toolchain (inside VM only)

Visual Studio Build Tools 2026 (MSBuild 18.5.4 / toolset v145)
.NET SDK 10.0.203
Python 3.13.3 (per build script personalizzati come build_plugin.py)
NuGet CLI (optional, dotnet restore covers most cases)
Git for Windows 2.54 + 7-Zip 26.01 (Tier-1 toolchain, §6.6 — DONE 2026-05-10): consente l'opt-in -UseGitClone di Invoke-CIJob.ps1 per clonare il repository direttamente in VM (skip host zip transfer, e2e PASS, -25.7% durata pipeline).

Network Topology

Host NIC (LAN)       → 192.168.1.x     → Gitea server (10.10.20.11:3100), developer machines
VMware VMnet8 (NAT)  → 192.168.79.0/24 → Build VMs (DHCP, internet access via NAT)

Build VMs:
  Clone_Job_001 → 192.168.79.131
  Clone_Job_002 → 192.168.79.132
  ...
  Clone_Job_N   → 192.168.79.1xx

WinRM port 5986 (HTTPS, self-signed) on each VM IP.
VMs have internet access via NAT — required for pip/nuget during build.

Note: VMnet8 NAT gives VMs internet access. The host detects the VM IP via vmrun getGuestIPAddress after boot — no static IP assignment needed.

VM Lifecycle

1. TEMPLATE (static, locked)
   └─ Snapshot: "BaseClean"  ───────────────────────┐
                                                    │
2. CLONE CREATION                                   │
   vmrun clone <template.vmx> <clone.vmx> linked ──►│
   Duration: ~5–15 seconds                          │
                                                    │
3. START                                            │
   vmrun start <clone.vmx> nogui                    │
   Duration: ~20–40 seconds boot                    │
                                                    │
4. READINESS CHECK                                  │
   Poll: getState=running → ping → Test-WSMan       │
   Duration: ~30–90 seconds total                   │
                                                    │
5. BUILD                                            │
   Copy script → Invoke-Command → collect artifacts │
   Duration: varies (seconds to minutes)            │
                                                    │
6. DESTROY                                          │
   vmrun stop hard -> vmrun deleteVM → Remove-Item  │
   Duration: ~5–10 seconds                          │
   Result: zero disk footprint remaining            ▼

Resource Limits & Parallel Capacity

Resource	Host Total	Per VM (est.)	Max VMs
RAM	64 GB	~6–8 GB	8–10
CPU	20 threads (i9-10900X)	~4 vCPU	5
NVMe IOPS	High	Clone delta I/O	~6–8
Recommended	—	—	4 concurrent

act_runner capacity: 4 is the conservative default. Raise to 6 after benchmarking.

Security Boundaries

Build VMs are on VMnet8 NAT (192.168.79.0/24) — host reaches VMs, VMs have internet access
WinRM credentials are stored in Windows Credential Manager on host (not hardcoded)
Each VM is fully destroyed after the job — no state carries between builds
Runner host does not expose any ports to the build VM network
Source code is transferred via zip (Compress-Archive → WinRM copy → Expand-Archive in guest) by default — no PAT is ever present inside the VM; VMs have NAT internet for pip/nuget at build time.
With -UseGitClone (§3.3, opt-in) il clone avviene dentro la VM via SSH alias gitea-ci (forwardato dall'host); la chiave privata SSH dell'host non viene esposta al guest — vedi BEST-PRACTICES.md per il threat model.

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