ocflib
ocflib is a Python library for working with Open Computing Facility services (in particular, accounts and server management).
The library targets Python 3.5.3 and 3.7 (the versions available in Debian stretch and buster).
The goal of the library is to make it easier to re-use OCF python code. In the past, code was split between approve, atool, create, chpass, sorry, signat, etc., which made it difficult to do things like share common password requirements.
What belongs here
In general, code which can be re-used should be here, but standalone applications or binaries shouldn't. For example, ocfweb uses ocflib code to change passwords and create accounts, but the Django web app doesn't belong here.
Using on OCF
ocflib is installed by Puppet on the OCF, so you can simply do things
like import ocflib.lab.stats from the system python3 installation. We don't
install it to python2 site-packages.
We build a Debian package which is installed by Puppet. We also publish new versions to PyPI, which is useful because it allows easy installation into virtualenvs.
Installing locally
For Testing Changes
The easiest way to test changes to ocflib is to create a virtualenv and install ocflib in development mode:
make venv
. venv/bin/activate
Now, if you import something from ocflib, you'll be using the version from your working copy.
Testing and linting
We use pytest to test our code, and pre-commit to lint it. You should run make test before pushing to run both.
The tests directory contains automated tests which you're encouraged to add
to (and not break). The tests-manual directory contains scripts intended for
testing.
Using pre-commit
We use pre-commit to lint our code before commiting. While some of the rules might seem a little arbitrary, it helps keep the style consistent, and ensure annoying things like trailing whitespace don't creep in.
You can simply run make install-hooks to install the necessary git hooks;
once installed, pre-commit will run every time you commit.
Alternatively, if you'd rather not install any hooks, you can simply use make test as usual, which will also run the hooks.
Troubleshooting: Cracklib Error
If you're trying to run make install-hooks on ocfweb (or related repos) and get this error:
./_cracklib.c:40:10: fatal error: 'crack.h' file not found
#include <crack.h>
^~~~~~~~~
1 error generated.
The issue relates to the cracklib package not finding the necessary header files to install. Make sure cracklib is installed on your machine (https://github.com/cracklib/cracklib, if you're on Mac, brew install cracklib).
If you still get this error, there's a good chance it's an issue with the virtual environment, which might be using an old version of pip. Run the following commands:
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install cracklib
make install-hooks
This will update pip from 18 to 21, install cracklib (hopefully successfully), and then carry on with the build. Note that when you run make install-hooks, the pip version will revert back to 18. This is ok though, since cracklib has already been successfully installed and there should be no other issues.
Deploying changes
Deploying changes involves:
- Running tests and linters
- Pushing a new version to PyPI
- Building a Debian package
- Pushing the Debian package to our internal apt
Jenkins will automatically perform all of these steps for you on
every push, including automatically generating a new version number. As long as
make test passes, your code will be automatically deployed. You can
monitor the progress of your deploy here.