StarExec-ARC
(Automated Reasoning Containerization)

This repository contains code for the containerization of Automated Theorem Proving (ATP) systems. It also includes deployment scripts for these ATP containers within a containerized StarExec environment, utilizing Podman or Kubernetes with MicroK8s or Amazon EKS. The following guide explains how to set up the system.

Papers etc. (only background information and motivation)

• Workshop Paper on This Project
• ARA Proposal

Building and Running a Containerised StarExec

Prerequisites for All Use Cases

• Install podman: Follow the installation guide.
  • Ensure that you own $HOME/.config and you have read-write permission.
  • Check if you already have it installed with podman --version.
  • macOS: Run brew install podman and start the Podman daemon with podman machine start.
  • Ubuntu: Execute sudo apt install podman or snap install podman --classic.
  • Fedora: Execute sudo dnf install podman.
  • Verify installation with podman --version.
• Containerize StarExec:
  • Go to the starexec-containerised directory to build containerised StarExec.
  • Test the containerized StarExec using traditional StarExec .tgz/.zip packages.

Building Containerized ATP Systems

There are three types of ATP system packages that can be used in various ways in containerized StarExec:

• Traditional StarExec .tgz/.zip packages:
  • Can run in containerized StarExec
  • This works because:
    • The .tgz/.zip contains neither run_image.py nor run_image_k8s.py
    • StarExec uses the local backend to start runsolver in the traditional StarExec way.
  • Cannot (or at least hould not) be used in containerized StarExec that is deployed in Kubernetes (microk8s or AWS)
• Containerized ATP Systems:
  • Go to the provers-containerised directory to build containerised ATP systems.
  • Test in a terminal containerised ATP systems using the run_image.py script.
  • Cannot (or should not) be used in containerised StarExec.
• Proxy-Prover ATP Systems:
  • Build a plain containerised ATP system first.
  • Go to the starexec-proxy-provers directory to build local proxy-prover ATP systems for podman.
  • Test local proxy-prover ATP systems using containerized StarExec.
    • Containerized StarExec detects the run_image.py script.
    • It uses the local backend, which uses run_image.py, which uses podman to run the container.
  • Go to the starexec-proxy-provers directory to build non-local proxy-prover ATP systems for Kubernetes.
  • Test the proxy-prover ATP systems using containerized StarExec.
    • Containerized StarExec detects the run_image_k8s.py script.
    • It uses the Kubernetes backend, which uses kubectl to manage the container within Kubernetes.

Deploying StarExec on Kubernetes

• Using EKS:
  • Install kubectl:
    • macOS: Run brew install kubectl.
    • Ubuntu: Execute snap install kubectl --classic.
    • Verify installation with kubectl version.
• Using MicroK8s:
  • Installation:
    • macOS: MicroK8s is not natively supported. Install via a Multipass virtual machine as per the MicroK8s macOS installation guide.
    • Ubuntu:
      • Run snap install microk8s --classic.
      • Add your user to the microk8s group: sudo usermod -aG microk8s $USER.
      • Change ownership: sudo chown -f -R $USER ~/.kube.
      • Reload group memberships: newgrp microk8s.
      • Optionally, add alias kubectl='microk8s kubectl' to your shell configuration file.
  • Verification:
    • Check status with microk8s status --wait-ready.
    • List nodes using microk8s kubectl get nodes.
• Deploy StarExec:
  • Navigate to the starexec-kubernetes directory to deploy StarExec on MicroK8s or EKS.
  • Access the deployed StarExec website to upload your proxy-prover ATP systems and problem files.
    • URL Access:
      • MicroK8s: Run microk8s kubectl get svc to obtain the URL.
      • EKS without Route53: Execute kubectl get svc to get the URL.
      • EKS with Route53: The URL follows the format https://your_Route53_domaster.
    • Open the URL in your browser to start using StarExec.

Managing Podman/Docker Containers

Building a Container Image:

podman/docker build -t <TAG_NAME> <PATH_TO_DIRECTORY_WITH_DOCKERFILE>

Running a Container (Entrypoint):

podman/docker run --rm [--entrypoint <ENTRYPOINT_FILE>] <TAG_NAME> <ARGS>

Running a Container (Interactive Shell):

podman/docker run --rm -it <TAG_NAME>

Cleanup (Podman):

podman system prune --all --force && podman rmi --all

Forced Cleanup (Podman):

podman rmi --all --force

Cleanup (Docker):

docker system prune --all --force && docker rmi $(docker images -a -q)