Single-stage Dockerfile.stage: pre-download k3s on host runner

The multi-stage Docker builder (which installed build-essential, compiled
soul-demo, and downloaded k3s inside Docker) was causing RWLayer nil
corruption on the runner's overlay2 driver. Every affected run failed at
apt-get install in the runtime stage after the builder stage completed.

Fix: move k3s download to the CI host runner (same pattern as soul-demo
compilation, which now passes reliably). Dockerfile.stage becomes single-
stage: no apt-get in a builder stage, no network downloads, just COPY of
pre-built binaries. Also adds --no-cache to the main docker build for
consistency with the soul-demo step fix.

.gitea/workflows/stage.yaml

@@ -190,18 +190,34 @@ jobs:
              -lcurl -lpthread -ldl -lm -lssl -lcrypto
           echo "soul-demo compiled: $(ls -lh dist/soul-demo)"
           # Package as minimal OCI image for k3s import
-          docker build -f dist/Dockerfile.soul-demo -t soul-demo:local dist/
+          # --no-cache: prevents reuse of corrupted overlay2 layers from prior failed runs
+          docker build --no-cache -f dist/Dockerfile.soul-demo -t soul-demo:local dist/
           docker save soul-demo:local -o dist/soul-demo-image.tar
           echo "soul-demo-image.tar: $(du -sh dist/soul-demo-image.tar | cut -f1)"
           docker rmi soul-demo:local 2>/dev/null || true
 
+      - name: Download k3s binary
+        # Pre-download k3s on the host runner so Dockerfile.stage can COPY it
+        # directly. Previously k3s was downloaded inside the Docker builder stage,
+        # which combined with build-essential and C compilation caused RWLayer nil
+        # corruption on the runner's overlay2 driver. Host-runner download is safe.
+        if: steps.changetype.outputs.asset_only != 'true'
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          curl -fL --retry 3 --retry-delay 10 \
+            https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/download/v1.32.4%2Bk3s1/k3s \
+            -o dist/k3s
+          chmod +x dist/k3s
+          echo "k3s: $(ls -lh dist/k3s)"
+
       - name: Build and tag image
         if: steps.changetype.outputs.asset_only != 'true'
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
+          # --no-cache: prevents reuse of corrupted overlay2 layers from prior failed runs.
+          # Dockerfile.stage is now single-stage (no builder) so build is fast even without cache.
           docker build \
-            --build-arg BUILDKIT_INLINE_CACHE=1 \
-            --cache-from us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/neuron-785695/neuron-marketing/marketing:stage-latest \
+            --no-cache \
             -f Dockerfile.stage \
             -t "marketing:${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}" \
             .

Dockerfile.stage

@@ -4,50 +4,16 @@
 #   - neuron-web  on port 8080 (landing page server)
 #   - soul-demo   on port 7772 (demo chat, localhost only)
 #
-# neuron-web is built by `elb build` in CI (not here). elb compiles each
-# .el source independently and links the result — no combined mega-file,
-# no exponential memory growth. The binary lands at dist/neuron-landing
-# (linux/amd64) and is COPY'd directly into the runtime image.
+# All binaries (neuron-web, soul-demo, k3s) are pre-built by CI on the host
+# runner before this Dockerfile runs. This keeps the Docker build single-stage
+# with no compilation and no network downloads, eliminating the multi-stage
+# complexity that caused RWLayer corruption on the runner's overlay2 driver.
 #
-# soul-demo.c is pre-committed (small, no OOM risk) and compiled here.
+# CI pre-build steps (in stage.yaml):
+#   - neuron-web: built by `elb build` → dist/neuron-landing
+#   - soul-demo:  compiled by cc on host → dist/soul-demo
+#   - k3s:        downloaded by curl on host → dist/k3s
 
-# ── Stage 1: compile soul-demo ────────────────────────────────────────────────
-FROM debian:bookworm-slim AS builder
-
-RUN apt-get update \
- && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-        build-essential \
-        curl \
-        libcurl4-openssl-dev \
-        libssl-dev \
-        ca-certificates \
- && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-WORKDIR /build
-
-COPY runtime/el_runtime.c runtime/el_runtime.h ./
-
-# Pre-compile el_runtime as a separate cached layer.
-# el_runtime.c changes rarely; main.c changes every run.
-# Splitting this out means el_runtime.o is cached across builds when only main.c changes.
-# -DHAVE_CURL: the staged el_runtime.c (from el.git) guards the OTLP observability
-# section (emit_metric, emit_log, trace_span_*) behind #ifdef HAVE_CURL.
-# libcurl IS installed above, so define HAVE_CURL to enable those functions.
-RUN cc -O2 -DHAVE_CURL -c el_runtime.c -I. -o el_runtime.o
-
-COPY dist/soul-demo.c dist/vessel_stubs.c ./
-
-RUN cc -O2 -rdynamic \
-       -DEL_SOUL_DEMO_BUILD \
-       -o soul-demo \
-       soul-demo.c vessel_stubs.c el_runtime.o \
-       -lcurl -lpthread -ldl -lm -lssl -lcrypto
-
-# ── Download k3s binary ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-RUN curl -fL --retry 3 --retry-delay 10 https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/releases/download/v1.32.4%2Bk3s1/k3s -o /usr/local/bin/k3s \
- && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/k3s
-
-# ── Stage 2: runtime image ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 FROM debian:bookworm-slim
 
 RUN apt-get update \
@@ -67,10 +33,13 @@ RUN apt-get update \
 COPY dist/neuron-landing /usr/local/bin/neuron-web
 RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/neuron-web
 
-COPY --from=builder /build/soul-demo /usr/local/bin/soul-demo
+# soul-demo binary — compiled by cc on host runner in CI
+COPY dist/soul-demo /usr/local/bin/soul-demo
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/soul-demo
 
-# k3s binary
-COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bin/k3s /usr/local/bin/k3s
+# k3s binary — downloaded from GitHub releases by CI
+COPY dist/k3s /usr/local/bin/k3s
+RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/k3s
 
 # soul-demo OCI image tar — k3s imports this at startup (no registry needed)
 RUN mkdir -p /var/lib/rancher/k3s/agent/images