Add a build command by ebassi · Pull Request #14 · moonforgelinux/moonforge-cli

ebassi · 2026-05-19T15:36:51Z

Allows us to replace our use of kas-container for building Moonforge projects.

Most of the build details can be controlled by the project metadata, and by a configuration file, instead of using environment variables. We can also do better validation of inputs than using a shell script.

Closes: #8

It really doesn't need to be inside the init sub-command.

The project metadata allows us to reconstruct the project state at the time of its initialization. Closes: #9

A command that sets up a container for building the given Moonforge project, using the project metadata to find all the required components and files without having to specify them on the command line.

A handy way to set up the configuration per-project or per-user. The "config" sub-command works similarly to "git config": - there is a user configuration and a project configuration scope - the project configuration, if found, takes precedence over the user configuration - if no scope is defined, the values are pooled together from project and user scopes - if no scope is defined, keys are read from the common pool and written to the project scope Examples: # read from all scopes moonforge config list # read from project scope moonforge config --project get container.engine # write to the user scope moonforge config --user set container.engine podman # read from all scopes, write to the project scope moonforge config set container.engine podman

Use the project metadata to determine the appropriate kas file to build, and the Moonforge configuration data for the container engine and cache directories.

Ideally, we want this description to be included in the help output. Right now, argparse is making it slightly more difficult than necessary.

If a command has an embedded long description, show it after the basic argument help screen, as a replacement for a manual page.

Kas allows specifying additional fragments alongside the main YAML file. The tricky bit is to normalize the path for each fragment so that its rooted under the volume we use to share the project directory inside the container.

Follow kas-container, and add --runtime-args for passing extra arguments when setting up the runtime.

Needed for maximum conformance.

We depend on Python 3.10 (EOL 2026-10-31), so we can't use typing.Self.

The utils.find_program() function can return None according to the signature, but we use error_if_not_found to ensure that we bail out if we can't find the binary specified inside container.engine in our PATH.

The long description for the command is allowed to go over the column limit.

Exactly like the build command, except: - mounts the repository volume as read-write - uses "kas shell" instead of "kas build"

We may be accessing project attributes, and we don't use anything else from other objects. The alternative would be to put it into utils, but then we'd need to access the Project class from utils.

Use Project.machine.name to expand @MACHINE_NAME@ in build paths.

tchx84

Looking good, but we really need a README with the basics now 🙏

Additionally, I left a few comments for minor things require fixing, and other questions.

tchx84 · 2026-05-19T17:18:34Z

+
+
+def add_args(parser):
+    parser.add_argument("--fragment", metavar="FILE", dest="fragments",


Maybe we can have an option to specify the image file?

Not entirely a fan of the concept; the whole idea is to remove the need to know the image file, since its name is determined by the project name and machine name.

The only case in which I'd see a need for that is building different images for different machines, but currently we don't allow initializing a project with more than one machine. If that were the case, I'd likely add a --machine switch to the build and shell commands.

I understand that we have a bunch of layers that have multiple image files, but those are mainly examples; I don't think you want to have the same inside an actual project. If that were the case, we'd need to have a way to generate image files from additional tokens.

tchx84 · 2026-05-19T17:22:05Z

+
+
+def add_args(parser):
+    parser.add_argument("--fragment", metavar="FILE", dest="fragments",


Have you considered keeping kas' colon formatting for fragments?

I did, but I find the foo:bar:baz format is a bit suspect, especially when the fragments have longer path components.

Use kas 5.0.

Point to "moonforge init".

Show how to use "moonforge config" to set various configuration options.

Since we might want to change the project metadata across revisions of moonforge-cli, we should have a way to specify the version that initialised the project, and a way to parse the project metadata depending on that version. Using Rust as an example, the version is called "edition", and its identifier uses a "YYYY.N" format. We use that identifier to determine which fields are known and valid.

There's no point, and it prevents us from transparently updating the defaults.

We start from the user configuration, as the baseline, and then we load the project configuration, as an override. If a configuration source does not exist, we skip it; to ensure that we're using the most appropriate source, we update the configuration source type when loading them all in sequence, so that: 1. we do not create unnecessary configuration values 2. we do not create unnecessary configuration files This means that calling: moonforge config set key value Inside a project directory will set the project's configuration, while calling it outside of a project directory will set the user's configuration.

This way, calling `moonforge config` inside the project will access the project configuration, and we can pre-seed a project with the values we care about.

ebassi added 12 commits May 6, 2026 14:19

utils: Move sanitize functions from init

a281d40

Split Project class into its own file

c335112

It really doesn't need to be inside the init sub-command.

init: Store the project metadata

ed49d1d

The project metadata allows us to reconstruct the project state at the time of its initialization. Closes: #9

WIP: Add build sub-command

06652ca

A command that sets up a container for building the given Moonforge project, using the project metadata to find all the required components and files without having to specify them on the command line.

WIP: Add configuration utilities

7078800

Implement build subcommand

be45a0e

Use the project metadata to determine the appropriate kas file to build, and the Moonforge configuration data for the container engine and cache directories.

docs: Add description to each command

0272503

Ideally, we want this description to be included in the help output. Right now, argparse is making it slightly more difficult than necessary.

help: Print long description for each command

6be5dbd

If a command has an embedded long description, show it after the basic argument help screen, as a replacement for a manual page.

build: Support fragments

cb509ab

Kas allows specifying additional fragments alongside the main YAML file. The tricky bit is to normalize the path for each fragment so that its rooted under the volume we use to share the project directory inside the container.

build: Allow passing extra arguments to the container engine

1c208cb

Follow kas-container, and add --runtime-args for passing extra arguments when setting up the runtime.

Add build-backend to pyproject.toml

e6a2ee1

Needed for maximum conformance.

ebassi requested a review from tchx84 May 19, 2026 15:37

ebassi added 7 commits May 19, 2026 16:54

Fix type for constructors

b8b5828

We depend on Python 3.10 (EOL 2026-10-31), so we can't use typing.Self.

build: Ensure that the cmdline contains only strings

a9bba2d

The utils.find_program() function can return None according to the signature, but we use error_if_not_found to ensure that we bail out if we can't find the binary specified inside container.engine in our PATH.

log: Add missing typing annotation

098e2d5

build: Add lint exception

dd50029

The long description for the command is allowed to go over the column limit.

Add shell command

4d89dad

Exactly like the build command, except: - mounts the repository volume as read-write - uses "kas shell" instead of "kas build"

Move path replacement function into Project

edb4e43

We may be accessing project attributes, and we don't use anything else from other objects. The alternative would be to put it into utils, but then we'd need to access the Project class from utils.

Add @MACHINE_NAME@ to the list of path expansions

02d5d6a

Use Project.machine.name to expand @MACHINE_NAME@ in build paths.

tchx84 requested changes May 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

ebassi added 3 commits May 19, 2026 22:53

config: Update container.image_version default

51cb07b

Use kas 5.0.

config: Fix missing comma

bc5e9e0

docs: Add a proper readme

620ba3c

tchx84 requested changes May 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread README.md Outdated

ebassi added 5 commits May 20, 2026 16:04

Improve error message when project.toml is missing

80d0fbd

Point to "moonforge init".

docs: Add a more complex set up example

3d8dbf3

Show how to use "moonforge config" to set various configuration options.

config: Don't store default values

8b6f502

There's no point, and it prevents us from transparently updating the defaults.

init: Create a valid config.toml file

37bde5c

This way, calling `moonforge config` inside the project will access the project configuration, and we can pre-seed a project with the values we care about.

tchx84 requested changes May 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread README.md Outdated

Comment thread src/moonforgecli/project.py

ebassi added 2 commits May 22, 2026 12:33

project: Add missing allowed key

c2d63fb

docs: Fix typo

cc3525a

tchx84 approved these changes May 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

tchx84 merged commit 45d50a5 into main May 22, 2026
2 checks passed

tchx84 deleted the build-command branch May 22, 2026 13:17

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Add a build command#14

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		def add_args(parser):
		parser.add_argument("--fragment", metavar="FILE", dest="fragments",

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