Complete Phase 9 Fruix boot on XCP-ng

docs/PROGRESS.md

@@ -2217,3 +2217,77 @@ Next recommended step:
   - deterministic boot readiness
   - in-guest Shepherd validation
   - minimal operator usability
+
+## 2026-04-02 — Phase 9 completed on the active XCP-ng FreeBSD track
+
+Completed work:
+
+- resolved the in-guest Guile/Shepherd blocker that remained after the earlier DHCP+SSH checkpoint
+- wrote the completion report:
+  - `docs/reports/phase9-xcpng-ready-boot-freebsd.md`
+- extended the staged runtime again in:
+  - `modules/fruix/packages/freebsd.scm`
+  - added `/usr/sbin/daemon`
+  - added `/usr/share/locale/C.UTF-8/LC_CTYPE`
+- completed the guest runtime integration in:
+  - `modules/fruix/system/freebsd.scm`
+  - activation now recreates compatibility symlinks for the currently locally built Guile / guile-extra / Shepherd prefixes, but points them at the real `/frx/store` items in the guest
+  - the rootfs now exposes `/usr/share/locale`
+  - the generated Shepherd config no longer relies on missing `mkdir-p` or unsupported `call-with-output-file #:append` behavior
+  - the Shepherd rc script now exports `LANG=C.UTF-8` / `LC_ALL=C.UTF-8`
+  - the Shepherd rc script now exports explicit Guile system/site path variables
+  - Shepherd is now started through FreeBSD `daemon(8)` so it remains alive after rc/session teardown
+- corrected the XCP-ng harness in:
+  - `tests/system/run-phase9-xcpng-boot.sh`
+  - it now uses a distinct SSH private key file for login instead of incorrectly trying to authenticate with the public key file
+
+Important findings:
+
+- the original guest Guile failure had multiple layers:
+  - missing UTF-8 locale data in the image
+  - baked-in temporary install-prefix references inside the copied Guile / guile-extra / Shepherd artifacts
+  - and Shepherd process lifetime issues caused by a fragile shell-background startup path
+- reproducing the problem in a host-side chroot into the generated image root partition made the final debugging loop much tighter than repeated full VM imports alone
+- after locale staging and compatibility-prefix recreation, Guile and Shepherd became runnable in the guest, but Shepherd still exited too early on the real boot path until it was launched via `daemon(8)`
+- after those fixes, the full ready-marker path became reliable enough for end-to-end XCP-ng validation
+
+Final validation:
+
+- `tests/system/run-phase9-xcpng-boot.sh` now passes end-to-end against:
+  - VM `90490f2e-e8fc-4b7a-388e-5c26f0157289`
+  - VDI `0f1f90d3-48ca-4fa2-91d8-fc6339b95743`
+- passing run workdir:
+  - `/tmp/phase9-xcpng-pass-1775113189`
+- passing real-guest metadata confirmed:
+  - `ready_marker=ready`
+  - `shepherd_status=running`
+  - `sshd_status=running`
+  - `run_current_system_target=/frx/store/0fe459ea22156510e64cea794b7a001151b59625bd5f12a488d6851e1c6d2198-fruix-system-fruix-freebsd`
+  - `operator_home_listing=/home/operator`
+  - `logger_log=fruix-shepherd-started`
+
+Current assessment:
+
+- Phase 9 is now complete for the active FreeBSD prototype track, using the XCP-ng replacement path adopted for this environment
+- the generated Fruix image now reaches all currently required first-boot milestones on the real VM:
+  - kernel boot: yes
+  - root mount: yes
+  - DHCP: yes
+  - SSH: yes
+  - Shepherd: yes
+  - ready marker: yes
+  - minimal operator usability: yes
+- this establishes the first real Fruix-on-FreeBSD VM that:
+  - boots from the declaratively generated image,
+  - reaches the generated ready state,
+  - keeps Shepherd running,
+  - and remains inspectable over SSH as a minimally usable system
+
+Next recommended step:
+
+1. begin the next post-Phase-9 cleanup/native-integration pass from `docs/PLAN_2.md` Optional Phase 10
+2. prioritize replacing the current compatibility shims for locally built Guile / Shepherd prefixes with a more native store-path-aware Fruix runtime arrangement
+3. clean up remaining non-fatal boot noise observed during Phase 9, such as:
+  - login-class warnings around `daemon`
+  - the `gpart: Unknown command: show` rc noise
+  - residual syslog/cron/runtime polish issues where they still matter