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| author | Nikolay Govorov <me@govorov.online> | 2026-07-14 00:30:20 +0100 |
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| committer | Nikolay Govorov <me@govorov.online> | 2026-07-14 00:30:20 +0100 |
| commit | c648892b2c065b4cb5e868f4c533369c14b17baa (patch) | |
| tree | 87c77c77b55e7c11f7b40673eefaa197609e79cf | |
| parent | c08cd7cf2992110e49bf5bb88a0707f3cd0e2c42 (diff) | |
| download | tar tar.gz tar.bz2 tar.lz tar.xz tar.zst zip | |
Add whitepaper.md
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| -rw-r--r-- | REUSE.toml | 1 | +1 −0 |
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/whitepaper.md | 220 | +220 −0 |
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diff --git a/REUSE.toml b/REUSE.toml index f421b70..5c2aeed 100644 --- a/REUSE.toml +++ b/REUSE.toml @@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier = "Apache-2.0" [[annotations]] path = [ "README.md", + "docs/*.md", ] SPDX-FileCopyrightText = "2026 Nikolay Govorov" SPDX-License-Identifier = "CC-BY-4.0" diff --git a/docs/whitepaper.md b/docs/whitepaper.md new file mode 100644 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/whitepaper.md @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ +# Hule Whitepaper + +> [!CAUTION] +> This document describes the intended architecture and boundaries of Hule. The +> implementation is still in progress and does not yet provide every capability +> described here. + +Hule is a portable machine-image format and a set of tools for distributing, +running, and deriving virtual machines. + +Containers made Linux user spaces easy to package and distribute, but they share +the host kernel. They cannot represent a different kernel, an arbitrary +operating system, or a machine built for another CPU architecture. Virtual +machines can, but their images and configuration are commonly tied to one +hypervisor or one cloud. + +Hule provides a common boundary between a prepared virtual machine, an OCI +registry, and the hypervisor that runs it. + +## Design + +Hule is built on two existing technologies: + +- OCI solves distribution: content-addressed storage, large blobs, caching, + deduplication, authentication, and multi-platform indexes. +- Qcow2 backing files represent derived disks efficiently: a child image stores + only the blocks that differ from an immutable parent. + +Hule connects them through a filesystem format rather than through a service +API: + +```text + OCI registry + ↕ + hule-oci + ↕ +external builders → machine directory → hule-vmm + Packer, genimg, config.json ↓ + manual install, *.hmi files QEMU / native VMM + existing VM + ↓ + Hulefile runner + (commands via exec) + ↓ + derived machine directory +``` + +`hule-oci` and `hule-vmm` do not call each other. The materialized machine +directory is their only contract. A directory may be created without OCI, and a +pulled image may be inspected or copied without starting a hypervisor. + +## Machine Format + +A materialized machine is a directory containing a `config.json`, one or more +Hule Machine Image (`.hmi`) disks, and optional boot resources such as a kernel +or initrd. + +```text +machine/ +├── config.json +├── root.hmi +├── kernel +└── initrd +``` + +`config.json` describes the machine contract: + +- the guest operating system and CPU architecture; +- minimum and default resources; +- available boot protocols; +- disks and other required files; +- networking expectations; +- ways to access the guest, such as SSH or a guest agent. + +It describes what the image requires and supports, not a hypervisor command +line. Deployment-specific choices such as host port mappings, bridged networks, +and instance names are runtime settings and are not part of the immutable image. + +### HMI + +HMI is a constrained form of qcow2 intended for portable disk chains. Its +required invariant is semantic rather than byte-for-byte equivalence: given the +complete backing chain, an HMI disk and its flattened raw representation have +the same virtual size and expose the same bytes to the guest. + +This invariant enables two operations: + +1. Flatten an HMI chain into raw, then convert it if necessary for a hypervisor + that cannot consume qcow2 natively. +2. Convert a modified disk back to qcow2 and safely rebase it onto its original + base, producing a small HMI that contains only the guest-visible difference. + +Qcow2 metadata such as physical cluster placement, compression, or internal +allocation does not need to survive this round trip. The virtual disk contents +do. + +Backing images are immutable. A running instance writes to a separate overlay; +published images and shared cache entries are never used as writable instance +state. + +## Distribution + +`hule-oci` maps a machine directory and all HMI files needed by its backing +chains to OCI artifacts. Large files may be split into independently compressed +chunks so they can be transferred and verified in parallel. + +It is responsible for: + +- importing an already prepared machine; +- pushing and pulling OCI artifacts; +- maintaining a content-addressed local cache; +- resolving complete backing chains; +- materializing a machine directory on disk. + +OCI indexes can contain variants for different guest operating systems and CPU +architectures. Native execution is an optimization, not a requirement: a user +may intentionally select a foreign architecture and run it through emulation. + +`hule-oci` does not provision guests and does not know how a machine will be +executed. + +## Runtime + +`hule-vmm` starts a materialized machine directory. Hypervisor backends +translate the machine contract into their native configuration and expose a +common machine lifecycle. + +QEMU is the tier-0 backend. It provides a widely available implementation of the +machine model and, importantly, full-system CPU emulation. This makes scenarios +such as a RISC-V NetBSD guest on an Arm macOS host valid even when they are not +fast. + +Native backends may provide better integration and performance when the host and +guest are compatible. They may flatten or convert HMI disks into their native +storage format before starting the VM. This conversion is a runtime detail and +does not change the distributed Hule image. + +`hule-vmm` does not know whether its input came from an OCI registry, a local +builder, an exported VM, or a directory copied by the user. + +## Derivation with Hulefile + +A Hulefile is a recipe for deriving one Hule image from another. Unlike an +external image builder, it does not install an operating system from scratch. +Its input is an already imported Hule machine that can be started and controlled +through an `exec`-capable access method. + +Every Hulefile has exactly one parent image. There is no empty base and no +equivalent of `FROM scratch`: creating the first bootable machine always happens +outside the Hulefile workflow and enters Hule through import. + +The intended execution model is deliberately simple: + +1. Resolve and pin the immutable parent image. +2. Start it with a persistent writable instance overlay. +3. Execute the Hulefile commands sequentially inside the guest through `exec`. +4. If every command succeeds, shut the guest down and flush its disk state. +5. Rebase the resulting disk onto the parent and produce a new HMI and + `config.json`. +6. If any command fails, discard the temporary instance and produce no image. + +One Hulefile produces one image boundary. Individual commands do not create +published layers or snapshots, and intermediate states are not part of the +format. This keeps the backing chain tied to meaningful image derivations rather +than to the number of provisioning commands. + +The exact Hulefile syntax is not defined yet. It is expected to be a small shell +dialect for running arbitrary commands, with only the additional structure +needed to identify the parent and describe changes to the resulting machine +configuration. A Hulefile runs in the context of its parent guest and is not +implicitly portable across operating systems. + +## Image Lifecycle + +### Prepare and Import + +Preparing a base guest operating system is outside Hule. Users may use Packer, a +`genimg` script, an unattended installer, or a manually configured VM. Hule +imports the finished, powered-off machine, which can then be distributed or used +as the parent of a Hulefile. + +This boundary is important for systems whose prebuilt images cannot be freely +redistributed. A project can publish a recipe that downloads official +installation media, builds an image on the user's machine, and pushes the result +to the user's own OCI registry. + +### Publish + +The prepared machine is imported, validated, split into OCI blobs, and pushed to +a registry. Tags provide convenient names; digests identify immutable versions. + +### Run + +The OCI artifact is pulled and materialized. `hule-vmm` selects a compatible +backend and boot protocol, creates writable instance state, and starts the VM. + +### Derive + +A Hulefile is the standard path for reproducibly deriving an image. A modified +instance disk may also be converted back to HMI and rebased onto the immutable +image from which it originated. Only the resulting difference needs to be +published; unchanged parent data is reused through the backing chain and OCI +content store. + +## Scope + +Hule defines how a prepared machine is represented, distributed, materialized, +run, and derived. It does not: + +- install a base guest operating system from installation media; +- replace Packer, unattended installers, or other from-scratch image builders; +- create a machine from an empty Hulefile parent; +- serve as a general-purpose workload orchestrator inside the guest; +- require a particular OCI registry; +- promise native acceleration for every host and guest combination; +- grant redistribution rights for operating systems or software contained in an + image. + +The format is the product boundary. Builders produce it, registries transport +it, and runtimes consume it independently. |