Custom path to diffdisk

[seregamorph]

Is it possible to start colima with custom diffdisk location (a.k.a. drive)? I mean by default it's always ~/.lima/colima/diffdisk.
But for some reasons I'd like to use another location (faster access speed). Is it configurable? Thanks

[seregamorph]

I see this in log

[/usr/local/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu host -machine q35,accel=hvf -smp 2,sockets=1,cores=2,threads=1 -m 2048 -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/local/share/qemu/edk2-x86_64-code.fd -boot order=c,splash-time=0,menu=on -drive file=/Users/vijay/.lima/colima/diffdisk,if=virtio -cdrom /Users/vijay/.lima/colima/cidata.iso -netdev user,id=net0,net=192.168.5.0/24,dhcpstart=192.168.5.15,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:41122-:22 -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0,mac=52:55:55:7c:c7:d9 -device virtio-rng-pci -display none -device virtio-vga -device virtio-keyboard-pci -device virtio-mouse-pci -parallel none -chardev socket,id=char-serial,path=/Users/vijay/.lima/colima/serial.sock,server=on,wait=off,logfile=/Users/vijay/.lima/colima/serial.log -serial chardev:char-serial -chardev socket,id=char-qmp,path=/Users/vijay/.lima/colima/qmp.sock,server=on,wait=off -qmp chardev:char-qmp -name lima-colima -pidfile /Users/vijay/.lima/colima/qemu.pid]","time":"2021-10-13T07:36:44+05:30"}
{"level":"info","msg":"Waiting for the essential requirement 1 of 4: \"ssh\"","time":"2021-10-13T07:36:44+05:30"}
{"level":"debug","msg":"executing script \"ssh\"","time":"2021-10-13T07:36:44+05:30"}
{"level":"debug","msg":"qemu[stderr]: qemu-system-x86_64: -netdev user,id=net0,net=192.168.5.0/24,dhcpstart=192.168.5.15,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:41122-:22: Could not set up host forwarding rule 'tcp:127.0.0.1:41122-:22'","time":"2021-10-13T07:36:44+05:30"}
{"error":"exit status 1","level":"info","msg":"QEMU has exited","time":"2021-10-13T07:36:44+05:30"}
{"level":"debug","msg":"stdout=\"\", stderr=\"[email protected]: Permission denied (publickey).\\r\\n\", err=failed to execute script \"ssh\": stdout=\"\", stderr=\"[email protected]: Permission denied (publickey).\\r\\n\": exit status 255","time":"2021-10-13T07:36:45+05:30"}

and curious if this part -drive file=/Users/vijay/.lima/colima/diffdisk can be customized

[jandubois]

You can set the LIMA_HOME environment variable to put the Lima instances somewhere else. It defaults to ~/.lima when not set explicitly.

You will have to move the existing contents manually if you want to keep it.

[seregamorph]

Thanks for advice. It seems that it has effect, but it's not enough.
I've defined the env variable and moved files.
And then executed

maxbook:~(:|✔) % echo $LIMA_HOME
/Users/morph/dev/lima
maxbook:~(:|✔) % colima start
INFO[0000] using docker runtime                         
INFO[0000] starting colima                              
INFO[0000] creating and starting ...                     context=vm
> msg="instance \"colima\" already exists (\"/Users/morph/dev/lima/colima\")"
FATA[0000] error starting vm: error at 'creating and starting': exit status 1 

I even erased all the contents of /Users/morph/dev/lima to try from scratch:

INFO[0000] using docker runtime                         
INFO[0000] starting colima                              
INFO[0000] creating and starting ...                     context=vm
INFO[0113] provisioning ...                              context=docker
INFO[0113] provisioning in VM ...                        context=docker
INFO[0125] restarting VM to complete setup ...           context=docker
INFO[0125] stopping ...                                  context=vm
INFO[0158] creating and starting ...                     context=vm
> msg="instance \"colima\" already exists (\"/Users/morph/dev/lima/colima\")"
FATA[0158] error provisioning docker: error at 'restarting VM to complete setup': error at 'creating and starting': exit status 1 

It was making some initial startup, downloading some images, etc. But finally it fails. What am I missing?

[jandubois]

It looks like colima has the ~/.lima address hard-coded in a few places, so may need to be updated to use LIMA_HOME as well:

$ ag '\.lima'
environment/container/docker/socket.sh
5:    -i ~/.lima/_config/user \

environment/vm/lima/lima.go
37:	return filepath.Join(home, ".lima", config.Profile().ID)

You should create a bug report/issue about it.

[seregamorph]

Thanks. Done #61

[abiosoft]

Thanks @jandubois for assisting with responses recently.

@seregamorph yeah, it is not properly supported as I did not consider the use case. That issue should suffice and should be fixed in the next release.

[jandubois]

@seregamorph You may be able to get this working with the current release by making ~/.lima a symlink to ~/dev/lima.

There are some subtleties when sockets are forwarded into the LIMA_HOME location, but I believe colima is using an absolute path, so should not be affected.

[seregamorph]

Seems to be working for me. Thanks for advice!