Files
031-flash-card/docs/adr/adr-0005-container-and-sandbox-checks.md
T
Tirsvad f86bc9136e MIL-013 plan and documents: container and sandbox checks
Milestone MIL-013 (Debian container with GNOME, Windows Sandbox for the
executable), ADR-0005, BC-001 and PP-001 updated. Review records RC-073 to
RC-076, all Go (autonomous mode, not independent).

Task: MIL-013#1
2026-10-15 09:55:21 +08:00

2.8 KiB

ADR-0005: Container and sandbox checks without the user's desktop

Metadata

Key Value
ID ADR-0005
CrossReference BC-001, ADR-0004

Version History

Date Status Author Reviewer Change Commit
2026-10-15 Accepted Jens Tirsvad Nielsen AI as stand-in for S01 Initial version pending

Allowed Status values: Proposed, Accepted, Rejected, Deprecated, Superseded by ADR-NNNN.


Context

Smoke tests of the program drive a real window. Run on the Product Owner's own Windows desktop they open windows, take the focus and move the mouse, which interrupts the Product Owner's work (RC-072). The checks must run somewhere else. Options:

  1. A Windows hidden desktop (a second Win32 desktop of the same session): invisible, but still the host's session and a place where a mistake can reach the host.
  2. A Debian Docker container with a virtual X screen and GNOME for the Linux checks, and Windows Sandbox for the Windows executable: both are isolated from the host's input and desktop; the Debian check is not a Windows check.
  3. A Wine container for the Windows executable, or a real Windows virtual machine run in Docker with KVM: Wine is an emulation of the Windows interface; the Windows virtual machine needs a Microsoft evaluation image of tens of gigabytes and licence terms the Product Owner has not accepted.
  4. macOS in Docker: not possible on a Windows host, and Apple's licence allows macOS only on Apple hardware.

Decision

Run the Linux checks (linters, tests including the real window, screenshots, a Linux binary and its smoke test) in a Debian image based on python:3.13-slim-bookworm with Xvfb, GNOME's window manager and, if it runs in a container, the GNOME session. Run the Windows executable in Windows Sandbox of Windows 11 Pro through a .wsb configuration and a script that presses the known button inside the sandbox and writes the result to a mapped folder. Do not run macOS, and state that in the documents.

Consequences

Positive:

  • No check takes the focus or the mouse of the host any more.
  • The container checks are repeatable on any machine with Docker and need no Python installation.
  • The sandbox is a real Windows, thrown away after each run.

Negative:

  • The Debian image is large (a desktop and a Python image) and the first build takes time.
  • A full GNOME session may not run in a container; the fallback (GNOME's window manager) is a weaker statement, and the record says which one ran.
  • Windows Sandbox needs Windows 11 Pro with the feature enabled and shows its own window on the host while it runs.
  • macOS stays untested.

Affected Artifacts

  • BC-001 — In Scope and Out of Scope lists
  • ADR-0004 — the executable that the sandbox runs