Rostyr

A Rust-based configuration management tool for FreeBSD hosts, designed to configure workstations, servers, virtual machines, and jails using an idempotent, test-driven approach.

Overview

Rostyr rewrites and extends styr in Rust, bringing:

• Idempotency - All operations are safe to run repeatedly
• Testing first - Snapshot-based tests for every feature
• Safe rollbacks - ZFS snapshots before every apply

Architecture

Component	Technology
Hosts	FreeBSD only
Service Isolation	FreeBSD Jails (primary)
Linux VMs	bhyve hypervisor
Filesystem	ZFS with snapshots
Config Format	TOML

CLI Commands

rostyr init <hostname>     # Scaffold new host config
rostyr validate           # Validate all TOML configs
rostyr diff [--host H]   # Show pending changes (dry-run)
rostyr check [--host H]  # Detect current system state
rostyr apply [--host H]  # Apply changes (creates ZFS snapshot first)
rostyr rollback          # Revert to last ZFS snapshot

Idempotency Strategy

1. Detect current state (jails, VMs, ZFS, users, packages)
2. Diff desired vs actual state
3. Plan minimal changes needed
4. Execute only when state differs
5. Snapshot ZFS before any apply

Testing Strategy

• Unit tests: Config parsing, state detection, diff logic
• Integration tests: CLI commands against isolated test VMs
• Idempotency tests: Run apply twice, verify no changes on second run (snapshot comparison)
• VMs for testing: All tests run in isolated bhyve VMs before production deployment

Project Structure

rostyr/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs
│   ├── cli.rs           # CLI argument handling
│   ├── config/          # TOML parsing & validation
│   ├── state/           # System state detection
│   ├── planner/         # Diff & idempotency logic
│   ├── executor/        # Command execution
│   ├── jail/            # Jail management
│   ├── vm/              # bhyve VM management
│   ├── zfs/             # ZFS snapshot/rollback
│   └── commands/        # init, validate, diff, apply, rollback
├── configs/
│   ├── hosts/           # Host TOML files
│   ├── users/           # User TOML files
│   └── services/        # Service definitions
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/            # Unit tests
│   ├── integration/     # CLI tests
│   └── idempotency/     # Snapshot-based tests
└── Cargo.toml

Phased Roadmap

Phase 1 - Core Foundation

• Project scaffolding (Rust, CLI framework)
• Config parsing (TOML)
• Basic state detection (host info, ZFS)
• init, validate commands

Phase 2 - Idempotent Apply

• Diff/planner logic
• Apply command with ZFS snapshot
• Rollback command
• check command

Phase 3 - Jails

• Jail creation/management
• Basic service jail templates
• User management inside jails

Phase 4 - bhyve VMs

• VM lifecycle management
• Linux VM templates
• Service deployment to VMs

Phase 5+ - Services

• Individual service implementations (from styr)
• Full port of styr functionality

License

Unlicense - see LICENSE file