javajon / katacoda-solver Goto Github PK

At least for authoring mode the "solver lint" command should check for problems.

Added to upcoming release.

• Move most CI work to stages in dockerfile and have actions pull binary from the container to publish on the release page.
• Move gradlew build to inside dockerfile stage rather than at GitHub action level
• Simplify the readme for build instructions
• Remove UPX as a GitHub action step and substitute with Quarkus UPX switch.
• Consider other high availability options for CLI tool download

First thing Jonathan, great work on this tool. It looks like it will be very helpful!

I am running into an issue using it in my environment, however.

I am trying to use solver on a Mac while I am developing a challenge and I have run into a few issues when running it inside a container.

The Katacoda documents here: https://www.katacoda.community/challenges/challenges-solver.html

recommend that you use it by setting alias solver="docker run --rm ghcr.io/javajon/solver:0.4.1

However, running a command like this would fail solver create --archetype=linux --destination=. --force

I figured that this was because it was running inside the container, so I removed the alias and replaced it with a bash function that looks like this:

solver ()
{
    docker run --rm -v `pwd`:/output ghcr.io/javajon/solver:0.4.1 "$@"
}

This then allowed me to run solver create --archetype=linux --destination=/output --force without an issue.

However, when I got done with the challenge and then wanted to encrypt the solutions, I ran into another problem. I see no way to tell solver where to find the solutions, which means that I can't point it at the mounted directory.

Running solver solutions -e, claims to have done something (which surprises me a bit), but once again this is likely happening inside the container filesystem.

It seems like the tool really needs an option to specific the working directory, for most, if not all commands. This should allow users on Windows and Mac to use it reasonably easily, and would definitely help me out.

Let me know if there is anymore information or testing that I can do, which would be helpful!

There is a mild bug in solver which will be fixed in the next revision.

However, in the meantime just be sure to run the decrypt command BEFORE running solver view, next, all, and until. Running some commands before the decrypt creates a bogus file. If you happen to run a command before the decrypt command or encounter this problem again just delete the file:

rm /tmp/solutions-sourcer.sh

The command "solver view 1" was also producing the message: "Solutions not found for requested task 1"

You can clear out the bug with:

rm /tmp/solutions-sourcer.sh
solver sol -d K0MS1DPSEK833Q13
solver view 1

And you will see the solution appear as expected. At this point solver next, all, and until will work..

The simple thing to remember is just do the decrypt command first just after the scenario starts.

When a command like curl fails silently in validations.sh the command solver verify can in some cases report true, yet the framework still fails to advance to the next task. More can be done to trap and detect these quiet failures.

There is currently a fixed 3-second delay on each hint. (in SubcommandRequestHint.java, taskUptime > 3). Typically the 3 seconds is shorter than when the learner reveals the hint. In the next version, it with be an optional adjustment by the author, set to a short default, perhaps 0,1, or 2 based on testing. A slight delay of ~1 second rather than 0, may still be wanted more for performance reasons.

1. Overall there will be a global delay setting defaulted to 0, this global default setting may be adjusted by the author.
2. In the markdown for each hint, there will be an optional time delay.

Units are in seconds.

Overall time delays are not encouraged as time is very subjective based on each learner's speed, distractions, hardware, skills, and accessibility.

These details will be added to the challenge documentation.

More download redundance needs to be put in place in the init-background.sh script when it downloads the solver utility. That download from GitHub release page can occasionally fail as the GitHub service is not guaranteed.