ci(distro): Rocky 10 — track upstream nix-vm-test support

[Jesssullivan]

Summary

Rocky Linux 10 is not yet available in nix-vm-test. This is a tracking issue.

Current State

• nix-vm-test supports Rocky 8.6-8.9 and 9.0-9.6
• Rocky 10 has not been released yet
• When nix-vm-test adds rocky."10_0", add a distro-rocky10 check

Action Items

• Add placeholder comment in nix/tests-distro.nix
• Periodically check: nix flake show github:numtide/nix-vm-test
• When available, copy Rocky 9 test with version string changed

[Jesssullivan]

Rocky 10 Update (2026-04-06)

Rocky 10.0 "Red Quartz" is GA — released June 11, 2025. Latest: 10.1 (Nov 2025). LTS through May 2035.

GenericCloud QCOW2 images available at:

• https://download.rockylinux.org/vault/rocky/10.0/images/x86_64/
• Both Base and LVM variants

nix-vm-test status: Has not added Rocky 10 yet. Current support: 8.6–8.9, 9.0–9.6.

Proposed approach

Option 1 (recommended): Contribute upstream PR to numtide/nix-vm-test

• Add rocky."10_0" and rocky."10_1" to rocky/images.json
• Follow the exact pattern of existing Rocky 8/9 entries
• Benefits the ecosystem, not just cmux

Option 2: Custom derivation

• Fetch QCOW2 directly via pkgs.fetchurl
• Prepare with virt-customize (same as nix-vm-test internals)
• Faster to implement but doesn't help others

Once added, the test is a near-copy of distro-rocky9 in nix/tests-distro.nix with version string changed.

[Jesssullivan]

nix-vm-test Fedora Image Issue (2026-04-06)

All Fedora images in nix-vm-test (39, 40, 41) return 404 — Fedora moves old releases to archive mirrors quickly, and the hardcoded URLs in nix-vm-test's images.json are stale.

This blocks both:

• Fedora VM testing directly
• Using Fedora as a Rocky 10 proxy

Rocky 10 native support requires either:

1. Contributing upstream to numtide/nix-vm-test — add Rocky 10 entries AND fix Fedora mirror URLs to use archive.fedoraproject.org
2. Forking nix-vm-test to maintain our own image URLs

Current coverage: Rocky 9 validates the RPM/dnf install path. The RPM is built on Fedora 42 in CI (container-based, not VM), and Rocky 9 tests it in a real VM via QEMU.

[Jesssullivan]

Sprint Research (2026-04-06)

nix-vm-test Status

• Pinned: 726069d (Jan 27, 2026)
• Latest upstream: 0829f82 (Apr 6, 2026)
• Rocky 10 still NOT supported — images.json only has 8.6–8.9, 9.0–9.6
• Fedora 39/40/41 images still 404 (stale mirror URLs)

Recommended Next Steps (in order)

1. Update flake input to latest nix-vm-test (nix flake lock --update-input nix-vm-test) — pick up any new distros
2. Custom Rocky 10 derivation if upstream still lacks it:
   • Fetch QCOW2 from download.rockylinux.org/vault/rocky/10.1/images/x86_64/
   • Use virt-customize to prepare (install SSH, set root password)
   • Add distro-rocky10 check mirroring distro-rocky9 pattern
3. Upstream PR to numtide/nix-vm-test — add Rocky 10.0/10.1 entries + fix Fedora mirror URLs

WebKitGTK Caveat

Rocky 10 (RHEL 10) removed WebKitGTK 6.0 from repos. The cmux browser panel will not work on Rocky 10 native RPM. Rocky 10 users need:

• Terminal-only mode (everything except browser panel works), OR
• Flatpak (GNOME runtime includes WebKitGTK)

The distro test should verify terminal-only mode works on Rocky 10.

Blocked By

Merge conflicts in working tree need resolution before modifying nix/ files.