Sandbox

Quickly sync selected files from your project with a VM testing machine.

Rationale

Testing your code can break things, or leave unwanted rubbish in places you don’t expect. That’s why using a Virtual Machine (VM) is so convenient:

• 1) run your code -> 2) screw up -> 3) rewind -> 4) improve -> back to 1)

For many scenarios a normal shared folder does the job - code on host, execute on guest. However, the shared folder has different file permissions as it is mounted akin to a network share (VirtualBox 6.1), and hence is owned by root and restricted to the group vboxsf.

Enabling an ssh server on the guest and using rsync to transfer the files while keeping all file permissions as on the host allows for a better 1:1 replication, and avoids execution errors due to permission mismatches.

Dependencies

• bash
• rsync
• VM running ssh server

Install

1. Clone the repo git clone https://github.com/mtoboid/sandbox.git
2. Use ‘install’ to install the script:

   install sandbox.bash /usr/local/bin/sandbox
       

3. To uninstall simply delete the script:

   rm /usr/local/bin/sandbox
       

Example setup with a VM (VirtualBox)

1. Install Sandbox.
2. Install VirtualBox
3. Set up your favourite distro as testing machine (e.g. Netinstall from Debian)
4. After the machine is installed enable a second Guest-Host network adapter for the machine:
   • Settings -> Network -> ‘Adapter 2’: ‘Host-only Adapter’; ‘vboxnet0’
   • Start the Guest
   • (On Host) check that ‘vboxnet0’ is detected

     	 ip link show
             

   • (On Host) and note the ip address range ip addr show

     here 192.168.56.1

   • (On Guest) get the devicename for the network adapter ip link show

     here enp0s8

   • (On Guest) place a config for the adapter in /etc/network/interfaces.d/${devicename}.config:

     	 # Replace the xxx with whatever static ip you want to assign to the guest.
     	 # We'll use 200 for this example
     	 auto ${devicename}
     	 iface ${devicename} inet static
     	     address 192.168.56.xxx/24
     	     network 192.168.56.0
     	     broadcast 192.168.56.255
             

   • Reboot the Guest and ensure everything is working:
     • ip addr show -> 192.168.56.200 (or whatever you chose)
     • systemctl status ssh -> active (running)
   • (On Host) ssh [email protected] should now work
5. For more information about available actions see sandbox usage.
6. Now go to your project and setup Sandbox sandbox setup!

License

(C) 2020-2021 Tobias Marczewski SPDX: GPL-3.0-or-later