Skip to content

POC: use bootc for isos and image-based updates#808

Draft
nikodunk wants to merge 2 commits into
elementary:mainfrom
nikodunk:bootc-builder
Draft

POC: use bootc for isos and image-based updates#808
nikodunk wants to merge 2 commits into
elementary:mainfrom
nikodunk:bootc-builder

Conversation

@nikodunk

@nikodunk nikodunk commented Jul 21, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown

Upside is more of the work gets moved onto podman and image-builder. Downside is it's not 100% ubuntu/debian ready yet IMO.

The flow becomes in pseudocode:

  • Build: podman build Containerfile Create image. Build shenanigans are moved to Containerfile
  • Install: podman run ghcr.io/osbuild/image-builder-cli:latest --type bootc-generic-iso Build ISO from image. Installer would need to run bootc install to-disk - big change I know.
  • Update: podman push ghcr.io/elementary/os:latest Push image to registry so all existing ElementaryOS installs can sudo bootc update (settings app would need to be adapted), even over versions 8=>9=>10 just like Bazzite upgrades between Fedora major versions

Downsides are:

  • We're relying on a not-yet stable source for our ubuntu-bootc images https://github.com/jmarrero/ubuntu-bootc. Maybe bootcrew will maintain these mid-term - tbd.
  • We're relying on still-implemented composefs backend.
  • Installer would need to be rewritten/wired around deploying an image with bootc install to-disk
  • no sudo apt install outside of distrobox or homebrew. system becomes macos style.

Upsides:

  • no hard-to-debug breakage through sudo apt install and ppa package drift
  • upgrades between major elementary os releases, :latest - forever

References:

Builds image-mode elementary OS for image-based updates and isos with CNCF bootc technology. Addresses #724 et al

@nikodunk
nikodunk marked this pull request as draft July 21, 2026 18:08
@danirabbit danirabbit added this to OS 9 Jul 21, 2026
@danirabbit danirabbit moved this to Needs Discussion in OS 9 Jul 21, 2026
@nikodunk nikodunk changed the title POC: use bootc for isos and updates POC: use bootc for isos and image-based updates Jul 21, 2026
@nikodunk

nikodunk commented Jul 22, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Author

So I posted this PR into the https://github.com/bootcrew discord, and @jumpyvi landed a sysupdate banger that's way more mature than this, as they noted in #793

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

Status: Needs Discussion

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

2 participants