Vagrant support

[BSFishy]

I have been using Gitpod for a little bit now, because it lets me write code on any machine I use while I'm at school. This is great, because I always have an environment where I can write code without worrying about clutter, dependencies, or whatever else. While this is all fine and good, I also want my projects to be easily accessible to anyone, even those not using Gitpod. To help with this process, in terms of dependencies and whatnot, I came across Vagrant. It has, in fact, been exactly what I've been wanting for a while now, because I've wanted a Docker-esque system that is targeted for development. Vagrant, in theory, could eliminate the friction of getting the dependencies needed for my project, no matter the platform or setup. I am interested in integrating my projects with it, but am somewhat skeptical about how it would work using Gitpod.

I use Docker files in all of my projects to install dependencies, so I know how all of that works. My curiosity comes in with using a VM inside of Gitpod. Is that even supported and/or recommended? I don't exactly know the specs of the machines running the containers, so I don't know how running an entire VM could affect the performance/storage.

Furthermore, I would like to raise Vagrant as an alternative instead of Docker inside of Gitpod. I'll admit that I don't entirely know how the backend works, but I think it would be great to be able to just define a single Vagrant file and have independent users as well as Gitpod users use that file, rather than having Gitpod users using a Docker file and independent users trying to figure out dependencies on their own, or using a separate Vagrant file that is potentially out of sync with the Docker file.

[Kreyren]

Disclaimer: i am not a gitpod staff

Can you give me a summary of that? Maybe all you need is to add RUN apt install vagrant in dockerfile ?

[BSFishy]

Vagrant is a tool to easily manage virtual machines, aimed towards software development. It is a flexible system built to work using other software such as VMWare or VirtualBox. The idea is that you can clone a repository and run vagrant up to setup and start a virtual machine that is configured using a Vagrantfile in the repository's root. Then you can run vagrant ssh to use that virtual machine's terminal.

While I don't doubt the possibility of installing and using it in Gitpod, I am more concerned with using unnecessary resources associated with setting up and starting an entirely new virtual machine within a container. It would essentially be a completely new OS installation, running alongside the already existing OS used by Gitpod. That is where my concern stems from, and is why I think it could be useful to incorporate Vagrant as an alternative to Dockerfiles.

[Kreyren]

FWIW: this configuration https://github.com/Kreyren/gitpod-tests1/tree/9b8020e48b5ebdbe7ba4ef4be9368e9be76ce8cd results in

gitpod /workspace/gitpod-tests1 $ VBoxManage --version
WARNING: The character device /dev/vboxdrv does not exist.
         Please install the virtualbox-dkms package and the appropriate
         headers, most likely linux-headers-4.14.138+.

         You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.
6.0.6_Ubuntur129722

[Kreyren]

Apparently it is possible to pass --device argument in docker run that should give us the required access.

Checking weather it is sane to use

[JesterOrNot]

Hello @BSFishy and welcome to Gitpod! 🎉
I've heard of vagrant, however, I have never used it myself does it require KVM?

Also, it's up to the whole team but I would not like to see Vagrant replace Docker
But running VMs inside Gitpod would be awesome

[Kreyren]

I've heard of vagrant, however, I have never used it myself does it require KVM?

vagrant is just a command line tool, the providers it uses are where the work is actually done. essentially vagrant captures the config you define and calls out to tools like vboxmanage or docker to do any work - From #vagrant on freenode

Seems that the virtual box is an issue here where we need /dev/vboxdrv as mensioned in #1251 (comment) to fix this issue

EDIT: sanity check required to make sure that sharing /dev/vboxdrv is sane

[JesterOrNot]

cc @geropl @csweichel @meysholdt

[Kreyren]

FWIW i'm in #vbox waiting for response

[Kreyren]

may be relevant: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2008-3431

[Kreyren]

Relevant: https://www.scmagazine.com/home/security-news/oracles-virtualbox-vulnerability-leaked-by-disgruntled-researcher/

“The E1000 has a vulnerability allowing an attacker with root/administrator privileges in a guest to escape to a host ring3.” Zelenyuk wrote in a technical write-up posted to his GitHub account in technical write-up. ”Then the attacker can use existing techniques to escalate privileges to ring 0 via /dev/vboxdrv.

https://www.cybersecurity-help.cz/vdb/SB2018110701?affChecked=1

[BSFishy]

Also, it's up to the whole team but I would not like to see Vagrant replace Docker

I just wanted to clarify: I didn't mean to imply that Vagrant should outright replace Docker. What I was trying to say is that there could be an option in the config file to specify that the repository uses a Vagrantfile, which would be used to setup the container, rather than a Dockerfile.

[JesterOrNot]

I see you mean for users to have the option to write their config in a Vagrant or Dockerfile?