feat(cmd): add cobbler check command

.github/workflows/testing.yml

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         cobbler_version:
-          - v4.0.0b6
+          - v4.0.0b7
       fail-fast: false
     steps:
       - name: Check out code into the Go module directory
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ jobs:
             *.iso
           key: ${{ steps.cache-iso-restore.outputs.cache-primary-key }}
       - name: Upload coverage report to GH artifacts
-        if: matrix.cobbler_version == 'v4.0.0b5'
+        if: matrix.cobbler_version == 'v4.0.0b7'
         # https://github.com/actions/upload-artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a # v7.0.1
         with:

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ Clean break — talks only to Cobbler 4.0.0+. For 3.3.x servers, stay on the
 - `--page` and `--items-per-page` flags on every `find` subcommand
   (routes through `find_items_paged`).
 - `cobbler setting export`.
+- `cobbler check` — reports potential Cobbler server configuration problems.
 
 ### Removed (no longer accepted)
 

cmd/check.go

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright SUSE LLC
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+)
+
+// NewCheckCmd builds a new command that represents the check action
+func NewCheckCmd() *cobra.Command {
+	checkCmd := &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "check",
+		Short: "Check the Cobbler server configuration for common problems.",
+		Long: `This command asks the Cobbler server to inspect its own configuration (settings, installed
+dependencies, boot-loader files, services, etc.) and reports suggestions for items you may want to fix. It
+does not change anything on the server; it only lists potential problems for the administrator to review.`,
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			err := generateCobblerClient()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			checks, err := Client.Check()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			if len(*checks) == 0 {
+				_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(cmd.OutOrStdout(), "No configuration problems found.")
+				return nil
+			}
+
+			_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(cmd.OutOrStdout(), "The following are potential configuration items that you may want to fix:")
+			for i, check := range *checks {
+				_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(cmd.OutOrStdout(), "%d : %s\n", i+1, check)
+			}
+			_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(cmd.OutOrStdout(), "Restart cobblerd and then run 'cobbler sync' to apply changes.")
+
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+	return checkCmd
+}

cmd/check_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"io"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func Test_CheckCmd(t *testing.T) {
+	// Arrange
+	cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig, setupLogger)
+	rootCmd := NewRootCmd()
+	rootCmd.SetArgs([]string{"--config", "../testing/.cobbler.yaml", "check"})
+	stdout := bytes.NewBufferString("")
+	stderr := bytes.NewBufferString("")
+	rootCmd.SetOut(stdout)
+	rootCmd.SetErr(stderr)
+
+	// Act
+	err := rootCmd.Execute()
+
+	// Assert
+	cobblerclient.FailOnError(t, err)
+	FailOnNonEmptyStream(t, stderr)
+	stdoutBytes, err := io.ReadAll(stdout)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	stdoutString := string(stdoutBytes)
+	if !strings.Contains(stdoutString, "No configuration problems found.") &&
+		!strings.Contains(stdoutString, "The following are potential configuration items") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected one of the known check-command headers in output, got: %q", stdoutString)
+	}
+}

cmd/root.go

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ func NewRootCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	// Add sub commands
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(NewAclSetupCmd())
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(NewBuildisoCmd())
+	rootCmd.AddCommand(NewCheckCmd())
 	distroCmd, err := NewDistroCmd()
 	cobra.CheckErr(err)
 	rootCmd.AddCommand(distroCmd)

cmd/utils.go

@@ -10,9 +10,22 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
+// convertMapStringToMapInterface converts the flat map[string]string produced by a stringToString flag (e.g.
+// --autoinstall-meta) into the map[string]interface{} expected by the XML-RPC API. As a fallback for values that
+// need to carry a list or dict rather than a flat string (e.g. Agama's agama_modules or cloud-init's per-module
+// settings), any value that looks like a JSON array or object (starts with '[' or '{') is decoded as JSON; if it
+// fails to parse, the original string is used unchanged so existing flat-string usage is unaffected.
 func convertMapStringToMapInterface(m map[string]string) map[string]interface{} {
 	result := make(map[string]interface{})
 	for k, v := range m {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(v)
+		if len(trimmed) > 0 && (trimmed[0] == '[' || trimmed[0] == '{') {
+			var decoded interface{}
+			if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(trimmed), &decoded); err == nil {
+				result[k] = decoded
+				continue
+			}
+		}
 		result[k] = v
 	}
 	return result

cmd/utils_test.go

@@ -6,6 +6,50 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
+func Test_convertMapStringToMapInterface(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		args map[string]string
+		want map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "flat string value is left unchanged",
+			args: map[string]string{"foo": "bar"},
+			want: map[string]interface{}{"foo": "bar"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "json list value is decoded",
+			args: map[string]string{"agama_modules": `["root", "user"]`},
+			want: map[string]interface{}{"agama_modules": []interface{}{"root", "user"}},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "json object value is decoded",
+			args: map[string]string{"cloud_init_set_hostname": `{"hostname": "example-host"}`},
+			want: map[string]interface{}{
+				"cloud_init_set_hostname": map[string]interface{}{"hostname": "example-host"},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "leading whitespace is tolerated",
+			args: map[string]string{"agama_modules": `  ["root"]`},
+			want: map[string]interface{}{"agama_modules": []interface{}{"root"}},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "malformed json-looking value falls back to the raw string",
+			args: map[string]string{"agama_modules": `[root`},
+			want: map[string]interface{}{"agama_modules": `[root`},
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := convertMapStringToMapInterface(tt.args)
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, tt.want) {
+				t.Errorf("convertMapStringToMapInterface() got = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func Test_covertFloatToTime(t *testing.T) {
 	type args struct {
 		t float64

docs/commands.rst

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Long Usage:
 
    cobbler aclsetup <commands/aclsetup>
    cobbler buildiso <commands/buildiso>
+   cobbler check <commands/check>
    cobbler distro <commands/distro>
    cobbler hardlink <commands/hardlink>
    cobbler image <commands/image>

docs/commands/check.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+*************
+cobbler check
+*************
+
+Check the Cobbler server configuration for common problems.
+
+Example:
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+   $ cobbler check
+
+This command asks the Cobbler server to inspect its own configuration (settings, installed dependencies,
+boot-loader files, services, etc.) and reports suggestions for items you may want to fix. It does not change
+anything on the server; it only lists potential problems for the administrator to review.

go.mod

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ module github.com/cobbler/cli
 go 1.24
 
 require (
-	github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient v1.0.0-rc6
+	github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient v1.0.0-rc7
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5
 	github.com/spf13/viper v1.19.0

go.sum

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient v1.0.0-rc6 h1:rLwH0DUB3H0PKcE+wxLyiWz1DWmH7UMMd4LSBqFwhjA=
-github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient v1.0.0-rc6/go.mod h1:BoS4GMBvwnypRHcOMedyipm+0Pu7IP5pSX6A/DqU6mo=
+github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient v1.0.0-rc7 h1:Qey8hX5GeLNIWWBACPSpE2ZPNYZ5putpzbO6weMQx0M=
+github.com/cobbler/cobblerclient v1.0.0-rc7/go.mod h1:BoS4GMBvwnypRHcOMedyipm+0Pu7IP5pSX6A/DqU6mo=
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.4/go.mod h1:tgQtvFlXSQOSOSIRvRPT7W67SCa46tRHOmNcaadrF8o=
 github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
 github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.1/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=

testing/compose.yml

@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ services:
     image: ghcr.io/cobbler/cobblerd:${COBBLER_IMAGE_TAG:-latest}
     container_name: cobbler-dev
     environment:
-      - COBBLER_XMLRPC_BIND_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0
+      - COBBLER_XMLRPC_BIND_ADDRESS_V4=0.0.0.0
     volumes:
       - ../extracted_iso_image:/extracted_iso_image:ro,z
     ports:
       - 25151:25151
-    command: cobblerd -F
+    # The published cobblerd image is missing `wget`, which the server's `check` action shells
+    # out to probe; without it, `cobbler check` faults instead of reporting it as a suggestion.
+    command: sh -c "zypper --non-interactive install wget && cobblerd -F"

testing/start.sh

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ if [ -z "$1" ]
     echo "No cobbler server url supplied"
 fi
 
-cobbler_image_tag=v4.0.0b6
+cobbler_image_tag=v4.0.0b7
 iso_url=https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-legacy-server/releases/20.04/release/ubuntu-20.04.1-legacy-server-amd64.iso
 iso_os=ubuntu
 valid_iso_checksum=00a9d46306fbe9beb3581853a289490bc231c51f