Fix DNS resolution in ephemeral guests

QEMU's slirp reads /etc/resolv.conf from the container namespace,
which contains unreachable bridge DNS servers. On systemd-resolved
hosts, it only has 127.0.0.53 (stub resolver).

Read upstream DNS servers from host's /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf,
pass them to the container, and write /etc/resolv.conf before starting QEMU.

Signed-off-by: gursewak1997 <[email protected]>

Author: gursewak1997

crates/integration-tests/src/tests/run_ephemeral_ssh.rs

@@ -358,3 +358,67 @@ fn test_run_ephemeral_ssh_broken_image_cleanup() -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 integration_test!(test_run_ephemeral_ssh_broken_image_cleanup);
+
+/// Test ephemeral VM network and DNS
+///
+/// Verifies that ephemeral bootc VMs can access the network and resolve DNS correctly.
+/// Uses HTTP request to quay.io to test both DNS resolution and network connectivity.
+fn test_run_ephemeral_dns_resolution() -> Result<()> {
+    // Wait for network interface to be ready
+    let network_ready = run_bcvk(&[
+        "ephemeral",
+        "run-ssh",
+        "--label",
+        INTEGRATION_TEST_LABEL,
+        &get_test_image(),
+        "--",
+        "/bin/sh",
+        "-c",
+        r#"
+        for i in $(seq 1 30); do
+            ip -4 addr show | grep -q "inet " && break
+            sleep 1
+        done
+        "#,
+    ])?;
+
+    assert!(
+        network_ready.success(),
+        "Network interface not ready: stdout: {}\nstderr: {}",
+        network_ready.stdout,
+        network_ready.stderr
+    );
+    // Use curl or wget, whichever is available
+    // Test DNS + network by connecting to quay.io
+    // Any HTTP response (including 401) proves DNS resolution and network connectivity work
+    let network_test = run_bcvk(&[
+        "ephemeral",
+        "run-ssh",
+        "--label",
+        INTEGRATION_TEST_LABEL,
+        &get_test_image(),
+        "--",
+        "/bin/sh",
+        "-c",
+        r#"
+        if command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            curl -sS --max-time 10 https://quay.io/v2/ >/dev/null
+        elif command -v wget >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            wget -q --timeout=10 -O /dev/null https://quay.io/v2/
+        else
+            echo "Neither curl nor wget available"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        "#,
+    ])?;
+
+    assert!(
+        network_test.success(),
+        "Network connectivity test (HTTP request to quay.io) failed: stdout: {}\nstderr: {}",
+        network_test.stdout,
+        network_test.stderr
+    );
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+integration_test!(test_run_ephemeral_dns_resolution);

crates/kit/src/qemu.rs

@@ -522,23 +522,21 @@ fn spawn(
 
     // Configure network (only User mode supported now)
     match &config.network_mode {
-        NetworkMode::User { hostfwd } => {
-            if hostfwd.is_empty() {
-                cmd.args([
-                    "-netdev",
-                    "user,id=net0",
-                    "-device",
-                    "virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0",
-                ]);
-            } else {
-                let hostfwd_arg = format!("user,id=net0,hostfwd={}", hostfwd.join(",hostfwd="));
-                cmd.args([
-                    "-netdev",
-                    &hostfwd_arg,
-                    "-device",
-                    "virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0",
-                ]);
+        NetworkMode::User { hostfwd, .. } => {
+            let mut netdev_parts = vec!["user".to_string(), "id=net0".to_string()];
+
+            // Add port forwarding rules
+            for fwd in hostfwd {
+                netdev_parts.push(format!("hostfwd={}", fwd));
             }
+
+            let netdev_arg = netdev_parts.join(",");
+            cmd.args([
+                "-netdev",
+                &netdev_arg,
+                "-device",
+                "virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0",
+            ]);
         }
     }
 

crates/kit/src/run_ephemeral.rs

@@ -283,6 +283,70 @@ pub struct RunEphemeralOpts {
 
     #[clap(long = "karg", help = "Additional kernel command line arguments")]
     pub kernel_args: Vec<String>,
+
+    /// Host DNS servers (read on host, passed to container for QEMU configuration)
+    /// Not a CLI option - populated automatically from host's /etc/resolv.conf
+    #[clap(skip)]
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub host_dns_servers: Option<Vec<String>>,
+}
+
+/// Parse DNS servers from resolv.conf format content
+fn parse_resolv_conf(content: &str) -> Vec<String> {
+    let mut dns_servers = Vec::new();
+    for line in content.lines() {
+        let line = line.trim();
+        // Parse lines like "nameserver 8.8.8.8" or "nameserver 2001:4860:4860::8888"
+        if let Some(server) = line.strip_prefix("nameserver ") {
+            let server = server.trim();
+            if !server.is_empty() {
+                dns_servers.push(server.to_string());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    dns_servers
+}
+
+/// Read DNS servers from host's resolv.conf
+/// Returns a vector of DNS server IP addresses, or None if unable to read/parse
+///
+/// For systemd-resolved systems, reads from /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf
+/// which contains actual upstream DNS servers, not the stub resolver (127.0.0.53).
+/// Falls back to /etc/resolv.conf for non-systemd-resolved systems.
+fn read_host_dns_servers() -> Option<Vec<String>> {
+    // Try systemd-resolved's upstream DNS file first
+    // This avoids reading 127.0.0.53 (stub resolver) from /etc/resolv.conf
+    let paths = [
+        "/run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf", // systemd-resolved upstream servers
+        "/etc/resolv.conf",                 // traditional or fallback
+    ];
+
+    for path in &paths {
+        match std::fs::read_to_string(path) {
+            Ok(content) => {
+                let dns_servers = parse_resolv_conf(&content);
+
+                // Filter out localhost addresses (127.0.0.53, ::1, etc.) which won't work in QEMU
+                let filtered_servers: Vec<String> = dns_servers
+                    .into_iter()
+                    .filter(|s| !s.starts_with("127.") && s != "::1")
+                    .collect();
+
+                if !filtered_servers.is_empty() {
+                    debug!("Found DNS servers from {}: {:?}", path, filtered_servers);
+                    return Some(filtered_servers);
+                } else {
+                    debug!("No usable DNS servers in {}, trying next", path);
+                }
+            }
+            Err(e) => {
+                debug!("Failed to read {}: {}, trying next", path, e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    debug!("No DNS servers found in any resolv.conf file");
+    None
 }
 
 /// Launch privileged container with QEMU+KVM for ephemeral VM, spawning as subprocess.
@@ -499,8 +563,20 @@ fn prepare_run_command_with_temp(
         cmd.args(["-v", &format!("{}:/run/systemd-units:ro", units_dir)]);
     }
 
+    // Read host DNS servers before entering container
+    // QEMU's slirp will use these instead of container's unreachable bridge DNS servers
+    let host_dns_servers = read_host_dns_servers();
+    if let Some(ref dns) = host_dns_servers {
+        debug!("Read host DNS servers: {:?}", dns);
+    } else {
+        debug!("No DNS servers found, QEMU will use container's resolv.conf");
+    }
+
     // Pass configuration as JSON via BCK_CONFIG environment variable
-    let config = serde_json::to_string(&opts).unwrap();
+    // Include host DNS servers in the config so they're available inside the container
+    let mut opts_with_dns = opts.clone();
+    opts_with_dns.host_dns_servers = host_dns_servers;
+    let config = serde_json::to_string(&opts_with_dns).unwrap();
     cmd.args(["-e", &format!("BCK_CONFIG={config}")]);
 
     // Handle --execute output files and virtio-serial devices
@@ -1229,6 +1305,30 @@ Options=
     qemu_config.add_virtio_serial_out("org.bcvk.journal", "/run/journal.log".to_string(), false);
     debug!("Added virtio-serial device for journal streaming to /run/journal.log");
 
+    // Configure DNS servers from host's /etc/resolv.conf
+    // This fixes DNS resolution issues when QEMU runs inside containers.
+    // QEMU's slirp reads /etc/resolv.conf from the container's network namespace,
+    // which contains unreachable bridge DNS servers (e.g., 169.254.1.1, 10.x.y.z).
+    // Solution: Create a custom resolv.conf with host's DNS servers that slirp can read.
+    let dns_servers = opts.host_dns_servers.clone();
+    if let Some(ref dns) = dns_servers {
+        // Create a resolv.conf that QEMU's slirp will read
+        let mut resolv_content = String::new();
+        for server in dns {
+            resolv_content.push_str(&format!("nameserver {}\n", server));
+        }
+
+        // Write to /etc/resolv.conf so slirp can read it
+        // Note: This overwrites the container's resolv.conf, but that's okay since
+        // we're running in an isolated container that will be destroyed
+        std::fs::write("/etc/resolv.conf", &resolv_content)
+            .context("Failed to write /etc/resolv.conf for QEMU slirp")?;
+
+        debug!("Configured DNS servers for QEMU slirp: {:?}", dns);
+    } else {
+        debug!("No host DNS servers available, QEMU slirp will use container's resolv.conf");
+    }
+
     if opts.common.ssh_keygen {
         qemu_config.enable_ssh_access(None); // Use default port 2222
         debug!("Enabled SSH port forwarding: host port 2222 -> guest port 22");

crates/kit/src/to_disk.rs

@@ -430,6 +430,7 @@ pub fn run(opts: ToDiskOpts) -> Result<()> {
     // - Attach target disk via virtio-blk
     // - Disable networking (using local storage only)
     let ephemeral_opts = RunEphemeralOpts {
+        host_dns_servers: None,
         image: opts.get_installer_image().to_string(),
         common: common_opts,
         podman: crate::run_ephemeral::CommonPodmanOptions {