An overhaul of Nim's CI

[alaviss]

Todo:

• Consistent environment
  • Linux
    • Node.js v12 (except i386, Node.js no longer has official support for this platform since v10)
    • GCC 8.4.0 (as requested by @Araq)
  • Windows
    • Node.js v12
    • GCC 8.4.0
• Split components into shell scripts, the ci/ folder can be re-used for this. Also consider copying some code from nightlies.

Fixes #17325

[Varriount]

Depending on the complexity of the various tasks, you might want to consider using something like Python, Ruby, or Perl over Bash.

[timotheecour]

in #17359 (comment) I was able to make i386 work again using a much smaller patch (i could turn it into a cleaned up PR if needed) but 3 tests failed:

• tests/async/tasyncssl.nim
• tests/stdlib/tssl.nim
• tests/niminaction/Chapter8/sfml/sfml_test.nim

still though, isn't disabling 3 tests better than disabling all nim js tests on 32bit linux?

that said, a docker based approach might be more flexible than the way we've been doing via cross compilation (although it does serve as an example of cross compilation tested in CI, which is useful)

can't we have a Dockerfile in the sources instead of relying on an external docker image (which is hard/impossible to change in PR's, say when a new dependency is needed). At least github actions supports using Dockerfile.

links

• Dropping 32-bit builds nodejs/build#885

[dom96]

Depending on the complexity of the various tasks, you might want to consider using something like Python, Ruby, or Perl over Bash.

Better yet, consider using Nim. You can easily grab a Nim release that is known to work for the CI code.

[juancarlospaco]

Everything to test the repo must live in the Nim organization IMHO.

[ghost]

@juancarlospaco then maybe just move nim-ci under @nim-lang organization, no need to have it in the same repo

[juancarlospaco]

True

[alaviss]

@timotheecour

still though, isn't disabling 3 tests better than disabling all nim js tests on 32bit linux?

It's mostly out of practical concerns. Node.js no longer provides official builds on 32-bit x86 Linux, and support for it has been moved to "experimental". I can add a recent Node.js to the image by building it from source, but I don't consider that worth the hassle, considering that no one in their right mind would run Node.js on 32-bit x86 Linux.

If we want 32-bit Node testing, there is Windows and my ARM CI in #16396.

that said, a docker based approach might be more flexible than the way we've been doing via cross compilation (although it does serve as an example of cross compilation tested in CI, which is useful)

The way we "test" cross compilation is mostly a hack. ./koch boot doesn't understand cross compilers at all, and we don't test the usage of <arch>.<os>.<cfg> configuration variables. For now I'd say that nightlies fulfills this role, given how it cross compile to x86_32, armv7 and arm64 (though we still don't "cross" compile but we use "native" cross compilers).

can't we have a Dockerfile in the sources instead of relying on an external docker image (which is hard/impossible to change in PR's, say when a new dependency is needed). At least github actions supports using Dockerfile.

I can move the alaviss/nim-ci repo to nim-lang/nim-ci.

The main reason for keeping it in a separated repo is so that we can develop further images there, not just for CI. Also, if you look at the GitHub Actions used to build my images, it takes 7 minutes to complete, and I don't want to shoulder that cost on the main CI.

@dom96

Better yet, consider using Nim. You can easily grab a Nim release that is known to work for the CI code.

That would only work if you're testing Windows, Linux or macOS. We test the BSDs too, and there are no prebuilts for them.

And most of the code we're dealing with is just environment setup. 80% of CI work is done in koch already.

[stale]

This pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. If you think it is still a valid PR, please rebase it on the latest devel; otherwise it will be closed. Thank you for your contributions.