meeting-assistant/docs/existing-kvm-diagnostic.md

# Existing Docker-host KVM diagnostic

This manual-only diagnostic checks whether the existing Ubuntu runner's Docker daemon can expose its already-existing `/dev/kvm` and successfully initialize QEMU's KVM accelerator. It does not install or load host modules, change the host, or request infrastructure. A prior container configured with `KVM=N` and no device mappings cannot answer this question.

The entry point is the .NET 10 file-based app `tools/ci/ExistingKvmDiagnostic.cs`. From the repository root:

```sh
dotnet run --file tools/ci/ExistingKvmDiagnostic.cs -- --help
dotnet run --file tools/ci/ExistingKvmDiagnostic.cs -- --run --output artifacts/existing-kvm
dotnet run --file tools/ci/ExistingKvmDiagnostic.cs -- --cleanup --output artifacts/existing-kvm
dotnet run --file tools/ci/ExistingKvmDiagnostic.cs -- --validate-evidence /path/to/downloaded-kvm-artifact
```

`--run` requires an empty output directory, the existing Docker CLI/daemon and Git. It records the source commit/helper SHA-256, Docker context/server identity, exact image metadata, commands, raw stdout/stderr, exit/state evidence, result and cleanup receipts. The workflow `.gitea/workflows/macos-kvm-diagnostic.yaml` is dispatched manually and always uploads these files. `--help` invokes no Docker command. `--validate-evidence` reads `qemu-monitor.stdout.log`, `qemu-monitor.result.json` and `container-exited.stdout.log` through the same success parser as `--run`; it invokes no Docker command and writes no files. This mode checks only saved HMP protocol and clean exit interpretation, without requalifying source, ownership or the container boundary.

The image is pinned to `qemux/qemu:7.50@sha256:e7f6fda52503a546fd649670ba46e4bc23dc6dcef275bc3fac48877fbbc430df`; if absent it may be pulled into the existing daemon's cache. One random-name/label container invokes `/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64` directly with KVM only, `-cpu host`, `-S`, no default devices, no display and HMP on stdin. It attaches no OS, disk or persistent volume and never continues the paused CPU. A read-only 4-KiB tmpfs at `/storage` (`ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,size=4096,mode=0555`) replaces the image's inherited `VOLUME /storage`. Inspect must prove `Mounts=[]` and precisely that sole tmpfs entry; otherwise a specific mount/tmpfs error is retained before QEMU starts. The only host device mapping is `/dev/kvm:/dev/kvm:rw`. The filesystem is read-only, network is `none`, all Linux capabilities are dropped, and no-new-privileges is set. Limits are 0.5 CPU, 256 MiB container RAM/no additional swap, 32 PIDs, and 64 MiB paused guest RAM. There are no binds, ports, privileged mode, added capabilities or host networking.

The helper has a 95-second operation budget and a separate 20-second cleanup budget, plus at most two seconds to drain killed command output. The workflow permits five minutes including SDK setup, compilation and upload. Cleanup checks the saved random name/label and exact full container ID before stopping or removing that container. An interrupted create can recover its ID only from the saved random name with the exact ownership label. `docker rm --volumes` also removes any anonymous volume attached to that exact owned container if creation did not match the expected tmpfs boundary. Cleanup does not remove images, prune resources, or touch another container.

Actual run 4165 failed the original zero-mount guard because this pinned image declared `/storage` as a volume and Docker created an anonymous writable volume. QEMU never started: the saved container state was `created`, PID zero and `StartedAt` zero. Its exact container ID was `1753f95ef334244e7a1b393a839f218ea885363de7d5335eec53132d64627010`, owner token `43b7f4676c514f2a95c63c02577ac36e`, and anonymous volume `ef7daa62ef89a2ffb8aae50a9b7803f1d9b3075ee509aa3183f3e170f69ce595`. The original cleanup proved container removal; it did not prove volume removal.

Run 4167's temporary, frozen-target cleanup verified the original daemon ID `528941c8-73ac-49ff-8eb7-69113eb4a2a1`, absence of the old container ID/name, the exact local volume and absence of container references. Removal without force exited zero; a subsequent inspect returned `no such volume`, and the receipt recorded `outcome=removed` at `2026-10-03T18:03:06.5767095Z`. The one-time cleanup mode and workflow step have therefore been removed. No generalized orphan cleanup is provided. The original source evidence is run 4165 artifact ZIP SHA-256 `6745d90e8b81c867740405c99b4364cc165c47ebb165455052314459d5cd547b` and created-container inspect SHA-256 `7afdfc6c30c933bee2ef1d6c18ed011c8b2f709d1a5e88531928f9f40471c055`.

`kvm_usable` requires QEMU to report the complete line `kvm support: enabled` and exactly `VM status: paused` or `VM status: paused (prelaunch)`, followed by clean monitor/container exit after `quit`. The monitor command must exit zero without timeout or error, and the container must be stopped with exit zero and no OOM. A device path alone is insufficient. Other receipts distinguish a Docker-reported missing daemon-host device, observed access denial, an unavailable QEMU KVM backend, an initialization error, and inconclusive evidence. These categories describe the observed output; they do not diagnose BIOS, nested virtualization, policy or hardware causes. All failures remain failed workflow runs with retained raw evidence. Even a usable result proves only this blank paused KVM initialization, not macOS boot, installation, native build or tests.

Actual run 4167 successfully initialized KVM and reported `VM status: paused (prelaunch)` before clean exit. Its original workflow still failed because the parser accepted only `paused`. The read-only CLI evidence mode reproduced that behavioral failure against the actual artifact (exit one, `usable=false`); after the narrow state-parser correction, the identical artifact passed (exit zero, `usable=true`). This reinterprets retained evidence and does not claim that the original workflow result changed or that another VM was run.

The CLI and monitor behavior follow the primary [QEMU command-line reference](https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/qemu-manpage.html) and [QEMU monitor reference](https://www.qemu.org/docs/master/system/monitor.html). Device/container options follow the [Docker create reference](https://docs.docker.com/reference/cli/docker/container/create/) and [Docker tmpfs reference](https://docs.docker.com/engine/storage/tmpfs/). Moby 28.3.3's [volume creation](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moby/moby/v28.3.3/daemon/create_unix.go) and [mount detection](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moby/moby/v28.3.3/container/container_unix.go) explicitly skip an inherited anonymous volume when that destination already has the tmpfs entry.