Minibox:setup

Minibox Development Setup

Set up development environment and verify required kernel features for minibox.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Setting up minibox for the first time
• Configuring development environment
• Verifying kernel feature support
• Troubleshooting environment issues
• Installing dependencies

System Requirements

Operating System

Linux kernel 5.0+ required for:

• Cgroups v2 unified hierarchy
• Modern namespace features
• Overlay filesystem support

Supported distributions:

• Ubuntu 20.04+
• Debian 11+
• Fedora 31+
• Arch Linux

Not supported:

• macOS (no namespace/cgroup support)
• Windows WSL (limited namespace support)

Required Kernel Features

Check cgroups v2:

# Should show cgroup2
mount | grep cgroup2

# Should show /sys/fs/cgroup
cat /proc/mounts | grep cgroup2

# Verify unified hierarchy
ls /sys/fs/cgroup/cgroup.controllers

Enable cgroups v2 (if needed):

# Add to kernel boot parameters
# /etc/default/grub:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1"

# Update grub
sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

Check namespace support:

# Should show namespace types
ls -la /proc/self/ns/

# Expected: ipc, mnt, net, pid, user, uts

Check overlay filesystem:

# Should show overlay
grep overlay /proc/filesystems

Development Dependencies

Rust Toolchain

Install Rust:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

Verify installation:

rustc --version
cargo --version

Install toolchain components:

rustup component add rustfmt clippy

System Packages

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
    build-essential \
    pkg-config \
    libssl-dev \
    git

Fedora:

sudo dnf install -y \
    gcc \
    pkg-config \
    openssl-devel \
    git

Arch:

sudo pacman -S base-devel openssl git

Project Setup

Clone and Build

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/username/minibox.git
cd minibox

# Build all components
cargo build --all

# Build release version
cargo build --release --all

Directory Structure

Minibox uses these directories at runtime:

Container storage:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/minibox/{containers,images}
sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/minibox

Daemon socket:

# Created automatically at /var/run/minibox.sock
# Requires root permissions

Verify Setup

Check build:

./target/debug/minibox-cli --version
./target/debug/miniboxd --version

Test daemon start:

sudo ./target/debug/miniboxd &
# Should start without errors

# Check socket created
ls -la /var/run/minibox.sock

# Stop daemon
sudo pkill miniboxd

Development Tools

Recommended Tools

Code quality:

# Format on save
cargo install cargo-watch
cargo watch -x fmt

# Continuous testing
cargo watch -x test

Performance profiling:

cargo install flamegraph
sudo cargo flamegraph --bin miniboxd

Dependency management:

cargo install cargo-tree
cargo tree

Editor Setup

VS Code:

{
  "rust-analyzer.cargo.allFeatures": true,
  "rust-analyzer.checkOnSave.command": "clippy",
  "[rust]": {
    "editor.formatOnSave": true
  }
}

Vim/Neovim:

" Use rust-analyzer with coc.nvim or nvim-lsp

Troubleshooting

Cgroups v2 Not Available

Check current setup:

mount | grep cgroup

If using cgroups v1:

• Add systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 to kernel parameters
• Or use cgroup_no_v1=all
• Reboot system

Build Failures

Update Rust toolchain:

rustup update

Clear build cache:

cargo clean
rm -rf target/
cargo build --all

Permission Issues

Daemon requires root:

# Must use sudo
sudo ./target/debug/miniboxd

Container operations require root:

# namespaces, cgroups need CAP_SYS_ADMIN
sudo ./target/debug/minibox-cli run ubuntu:latest /bin/bash

Overlay Mount Failures

Missing kernel module:

# Load overlay module
sudo modprobe overlay

# Auto-load on boot
echo overlay | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/overlay.conf

Bundled Scripts

Verify kernel features:

./skills/minibox/setup/scripts/verify-kernel.sh

Comprehensive kernel feature verification with color-coded output.

Setup environment:

./skills/minibox/setup/scripts/setup-env.sh

Automated environment setup (directories, modules, Rust toolchain, build).

Security Notes

Root requirement:

• Minibox daemon must run as root
• Required for namespace creation (clone with CLONE_NEWNS, etc.)
• Required for cgroup management
• Required for overlay filesystem mounting

Future improvements:

• User namespaces for rootless containers
• Proper permission model for daemon socket
• SELinux/AppArmor profiles

Detailed Kernel Features Reference

For comprehensive kernel feature documentation, load references/kernel-features.md which covers:

• Minimum requirements (kernel version, architecture, configuration)
• Cgroups v2 (configuration, controllers, verification)
• Namespaces (types, required config, verification)
• Overlay filesystem (config, directory structure, limitations)
• Capabilities (required permissions, future improvements)
• Security features (seccomp, AppArmor, SELinux - future)
• Kernel parameters (recommended settings)
• Distribution-specific notes (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch)
• Troubleshooting guide