As a PDS software developer, I want to use Debian-based roundup action images

[jordanpadams]

Checked for duplicates

Yes - I've already checked

🧑‍🔬 User Persona(s)

PDS Software Developer, Repository Maintainer, CI/CD Pipeline Operator

💪 Motivation

...so that I can successfully build and test packages with OS-specific dependencies that don't compile or run correctly on Alpine Linux's MUSL C library, particularly when working with packages like spiceypy that have native C extensions.

📖 Additional Details

Background

The roundup action currently uses Alpine Linux as its base image. While Alpine is valued for its small size, it uses MUSL C library instead of glibc, which causes compatibility issues with certain Python packages and their native dependencies.

Specific Issue: naif-pds4-bundler + spiceypy

Testing with naif-pds4-bundler revealed the following OS-dependent behavior:

Alpine Linux (current roundup base):

• spiceypy==4.0.3: Installation succeeds but tox tests fail (py3, lint)
• spiceypy==7.0.0: Installation fails entirely with wheel build errors

Debian Linux:

• spiceypy==4.0.3: Installation succeeds but tox tests fail (py3, lint)
• spiceypy==7.0.0: Installation succeeds, tox tests fail only on lint

macOS:

• spiceypy==4.0.3: Installation succeeds but tox tests fail (py3)
• spiceypy==7.0.0: Everything succeeds (closest to full success)

Proposed Solution

Offer two variants of the roundup action to allow users to choose based on their dependency requirements:

1. stable-default (or just stable): Continue using Alpine Linux for most cases
2. stable-debian: New Debian-based variant for packages with Alpine compatibility issues

Example usage in workflow files:

# Alpine version (current default)
uses: NASA-PDS/roundup-action@stable

# Debian version (new variant)
uses: NASA-PDS/roundup-action@stable-debian

Technical Context

• Alpine achieves small size by using MUSL C library instead of glibc
• Many Python packages with C extensions assume glibc and may not compile or work correctly with MUSL
• This has not been a widespread issue until now, but is a known trade-off of Alpine
• Both image variants would maintain the same functionality, just with different base OS

References

• Original issue: naif-pds4-bundler spiceypy compatibility
• Failed GitHub Actions run: Package installation failures with spiceypy>=7.0.0
• Previous successful builds used spiceypy 7.0.0 on different infrastructure

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For Internal Dev Team To Complete

Acceptance Criteria

Given a repository with dependencies that require glibc (like spiceypy)
When I configure my workflow to use NASA-PDS/roundup-action@stable-debian
Then I expect the roundup to execute successfully with those dependencies installed and tested

⚙️ Engineering Details

To be filled by engineering team

🎉 I&T

To be filled by engineering team

[jordanpadams]

@nutjob4life any idea on the amount of effort required here? if it is not a big deal, can we test it out and see if this fixes the naif-pds4-bundler issue?