AlmaLinux OS #110

Please describe the project
AlmaLinux OS is a free, open-source, community-owned and governed enterprise Linux distribution, binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Founded in 2021 as a 1:1 replacement for CentOS Linux after its discontinuation, it is now stewarded by the non-profit AlmaLinux OS Foundation and governed by a community-elected board. AlmaLinux OS is focused on long-term stability and providing a robust, production-grade platform, and it ships official builds for x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x — meaning Power and IBM Z are first-class supported architectures that we have a standing commitment to deliver builds and validated images for.

URL for the project
https://almalinux.org/

Describe current CI/CD setup
https://github.com/AlmaLinux/cloud-images
https://github.com/AlmaLinux/compose-tests

Both repositories use GitHub Actions as their CI/CD system.

• cloud-images: GitHub Actions workflows under .github/workflows/ already cover the x86_64 and aarch64 Packer builds for cloud and Vagrant images, plus publishing workflows for the Oracle Cloud Marketplace and Vagrant Cloud / HCP. There is no CI on ppc64le or s390x today — those Generic Cloud images are still produced outside Actions on manually-managed hardware and then uploaded to the release / mirror locations.
• compose-tests: GitHub Actions runs the tmt-based test plans on the architectures currently available to GitHub-hosted runners. There is no ppc64le or s390x coverage, which is the gap we want to close.

Describe the primary use case for the Github Action Runner
Two use cases on Power 9 (ppc64le) and IBM Z / LinuxONE (s390x):

1. Build the AlmaLinux Generic Cloud (qcow2) image natively — only the Generic Cloud variant; we are not requesting CI for any other image type on these arches.
   • On ppc64le: Packer + QEMU/KVM-HV, as documented in the cloud-images README under "How to build Generic Cloud images on ppc64le".
   • On s390x: oz-install against the almalinux_*_gencloud_s390x.xml.tmpl templates and the http/almalinux-*.gencloud-s390x.ks kickstarts, then a qemu-img convert pass to compress and upgrade the qcow2 to v3.
2. Run the tmt-based compose-tests suite on freshly produced ppc64le and s390x images so per-arch regressions are caught on every compose.
   The runners need KVM/virtualization (kvm_hv on Power, KVM on Z) since both Packer/QEMU and oz-install provision a guest VM during the build/test.

Paste a link to the existing actions workflow file(s) or directory

• cloud-images: https://github.com/AlmaLinux/cloud-images/tree/main/.github/workflows
• compose-tests: https://github.com/AlmaLinux/compose-tests/tree/almalinux/.github/workflows

How often do you plan on executing the runner?

• cloud-images: bi-weekly, scheduled, one Generic Cloud build per arch per supported AlmaLinux major version (8, 9, 10, Kitten 10). Plus on-demand runs for point releases / minor version bumps and on PRs that touch the *_s390x.xml.tmpl, *ppc64le* Packer files, the s390x kickstarts under http/, or the relevant ansible/ roles.
• compose-tests: daily, against the latest AlmaLinux updates, plus on-PR runs for changes under tests/ and plans/.

What is the primary programming language for the project?

• cloud-images: HCL (Packer, ~70%), Shell, Python, Jinja (Ansible).
• compose-tests: Shell + tmt/FMF metadata (YAML), with some Python helpers.

Please select desired hardware

• Power 9 (ppc64le)
• IBM Z / LinuxONE (s390x)

Account names of the GitHub repo admins that will need access to setting up the runner
andrewlukoshko