NVIDIA / NVIDIA/OpenShell

openshell-driver-vm v0.0.40 hangs during MicroVM initialization on macOS M1

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question state:stale
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Agent Diagnostic

Investigated sandbox creation failures on Apple Silicon Macs using the MicroVM runtime. Traced the sandbox creation workflow through openshell-driver-vm (v0.0.40) and verified the execution path using driver logs, sandbox filesystem artifacts, process inspection, and manual rootfs extraction testing.

The driver successfully resolves the container image, creates the sandbox directory structure, and extracts the root filesystem (~4.5 GB). However, during VM startup, the process hangs indefinitely while initializing the MicroVM through libkrun. No libkrun process is launched, no additional logs are emitted, and the operation eventually fails with a timeout error.

Description

Sandbox creation fails with a timeout error. The openshell-driver-vm process hangs indefinitely during libkrun VM initialization, preventing the sandbox from starting.

Reproduction Steps

Configure OpenShell to use the MicroVM driver (openshell-driver-vm).
Run a command that creates a new sandbox.
Observe sandbox initialization progress.
Wait for the operation to complete.
The sandbox creation eventually fails with a timeout error.
Review driver logs and observe that logging stops after image resolution/rootfs extraction.
Verify that no libkrun VM process is started.

Environment

OS: macOS (ARM64 / Apple Silicon)
Hardware: M1 Mac
Driver: openshell-driver-vm v0.0.40
VM Runtime: libkrun

Logs

Agent-First Checklist
  • I pointed my agent at the repo and had it investigate this issue
  • I loaded relevant skills (e.g., debug-openshell-cluster, debug-inference, openshell-cli)
  • My agent could not resolve this — the diagnostic above explains why

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Trace the openshell-driver-vm sandbox creation path from rootfs extraction into libkrun initialization, using the driver logs and sandbox filesystem artifacts described here. Reproduce the timeout on an M1 Mac and inspect where logging stops; done means MicroVM initialization completes and the sandbox starts without timing out.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
macos, rust
Domain
infrastructure, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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