ci: cut PR CI time with a prebuilt image, ccache, and no QML cachegen #22

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tri merged 4 commits from ci/faster-builds into main 2026-11-14 10:39:36 +07:00
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CI took about 5 min 10 s per PR on vm-201: 1.5 min of pacman -Syu and 3.5 min of build, half of it qmlcachegen compiling QML the tests never load. Now it takes 1 min 49 s with a cold ccache and 26 s with a warm one.

  • CI runs in a prebuilt Arch image with the build deps (git.trivk.dev/tri/qtpotato-ci:latest). ci-image.yml rebuilds it weekly, when its Dockerfile changes, or on demand. It builds on the runner's own Docker daemon, so vm-201 has the new image right away, since the runner does not re-pull tags it already has.
  • CI configures with QT_QML_NO_CACHEGEN=ON and no debug info. Release and AUR builds keep both.
  • ccache, kept between runs with actions/cache.
  • Docs-only changes (README.md, LICENSES/) skip CI.

Pushing the image to the registry needed two workarounds. Gitea's Actions token cannot push container images, so it uses the PACKAGE_TOKEN secret from #21. Cloudflare rejects request bodies over 100 MB and docker push sends each layer in one request, so regctl (pinned by sha256) pushes the layers in 50 MB chunks.

Giving vm-201 more vCPUs is left out; it is an infra change.

Refs #20

Proof: on this PR, CI run 328 (cold ccache) took 1 min 49 s and run 332 (warm, 41/44 hits) took 26 s, both 8/8 tests. Image run 333 pushed the image, and the registry digest matches the runner's local image. A local build with the CI flags takes 74 steps instead of 154.

Reviewed with sol-loop: 3 rounds with gpt-6.1-sol. Sol verdict: approved

Created with Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code (T3 Code).

CI took about 5 min 10 s per PR on vm-201: 1.5 min of `pacman -Syu` and 3.5 min of build, half of it qmlcachegen compiling QML the tests never load. Now it takes **1 min 49 s with a cold ccache and 26 s with a warm one**. - CI runs in a prebuilt Arch image with the build deps (`git.trivk.dev/tri/qtpotato-ci:latest`). `ci-image.yml` rebuilds it weekly, when its Dockerfile changes, or on demand. It builds on the runner's own Docker daemon, so vm-201 has the new image right away, since the runner does not re-pull tags it already has. - CI configures with `QT_QML_NO_CACHEGEN=ON` and no debug info. Release and AUR builds keep both. - ccache, kept between runs with `actions/cache`. - Docs-only changes (`README.md`, `LICENSES/`) skip CI. Pushing the image to the registry needed two workarounds. Gitea's Actions token cannot push container images, so it uses the `PACKAGE_TOKEN` secret from #21. Cloudflare rejects request bodies over 100 MB and `docker push` sends each layer in one request, so `regctl` (pinned by sha256) pushes the layers in 50 MB chunks. Giving vm-201 more vCPUs is left out; it is an infra change. Refs #20 Proof: on this PR, CI run 328 (cold ccache) took 1 min 49 s and run 332 (warm, 41/44 hits) took 26 s, both 8/8 tests. Image run 333 pushed the image, and the registry digest matches the runner's local image. A local build with the CI flags takes 74 steps instead of 154. Reviewed with sol-loop: 3 rounds with gpt-6.1-sol. Sol verdict: approved Created with Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code (T3 Code).
tri force-pushed ci/faster-builds from 917c830be5 to d0331c19f9 2026-11-14 08:26:27 +07:00 Compare
tri added 4 commits 2026-11-14 08:27:23 +07:00
tri force-pushed ci/faster-builds from d0331c19f9 to 378052183a 2026-11-14 08:27:23 +07:00 Compare
tri merged commit f2ba1d0100 into main 2026-11-14 10:39:36 +07:00
tri deleted branch ci/faster-builds 2026-11-14 10:39:36 +07:00
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