Update 3

Already the third update and some things have changed on the surface, more on that at the end of the page.

But underneath the hood, that is where things were really changed. So lets dive right in.

Single Docker container

First of all, the functionality that ensures the systems functionality is now encapsulated inside a single Docker container. The only exception is CoreDNS. It still resides in its own container and only the Corefile is shared via Docker volumes over the local filesystem.

The single WirtBot Container uses s6-overlay (opens new window) for managing the different processes - Nginx for Interface, Core, File watcher to reload interface. All logic is encapsulated in this container, which on the other hand means that it has to be started with NET_CAP capabilities to control the WireGuard Interface on the host. On the other hand it simplifies setup. No more SystemD service configurations.

Whether or not this is a good idea in the long term? Lets see.

Long standing issue addressed

More thans 6 months ago when I posted about WirtBot on /r/homelab (opens new window) a reddit user gave some critique on how the interface is reloaded on every change (opens new window). This issue is now addressed in the code, following this relevant section from the man pages of wg-quick:

The strip command is useful for reloading configuration files without disrupting active sessions:

wg syncconf wgnet0 <(wg-quick strip wgnet0)

Repo Reoganization

Some maintenance work on the repository:

• All things build-automation and containerization are now in the Build-Automation directory
• Modules now have a README.md

Testing

This is probabaly the biggest chunk of work.

To support changes in the future and ensure that the whole system still works as intended a whole bunch of tests were added and rewritten.

• The installer is now tested to supply correct values to ansible
• playwright (opens new window) supersedes nightwatch (opens new window) for End2End tests
• Input validity now tested
• Backup export and import tested
• Correct IPv6 configuration tested
• Test complex and simple network configurations
• Tests run in Firefox AND Chromium in CI

Frontend refactor

Based on the improved testing I was able to refactor the frontend with confidence. So what changed?

Things were removed! Less complexity, more focus.

And here a list of the removed features:

• Expert mode - All configuration options are shown by default
• Edit mode - Changes, as long as valid, are saved and sent to the backend immediately
• Update the UI button - That was a workaround for a bug in the reactivity system. The underlying issue is fixed and this button now unnecessary.

Besides that some Bugs were squashed in the process of testing and refactoring.

End

Quite a lot of changes that hopefully ensure good maintainability and easier implementation of new features.

Lets see in Update #4. Thanks for reading.