[PATCH v2 0/8] System updates based on systemd-sysupdate

Demi Marie Obenour
2025-11-12T22:18:03Z

This implements updates via systemd-sysupdate. See individual commit
messages for details.

There are major changes to the image build process.

Signed-off-by: Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com>
---
Changes in v2:
- updates-dir-check:
- Do not check that there is a SHA256SUMS or SHA256SUMS.gpg file in the
update directory. systemd-sysupdate will fail if it cannot find a
manifest or its signature.
- Follow symlinks in opening the directory. The path is from a
trusted source and will always point to a BTRFS snapshot, never a
symlink. The only exception is the last component, which is still
checked to not be a symlink.
- VM:
- Link SHA256SUMS.sha256.asc to SHA256SUMS.gpg. Recent
systemd-sysupdate seems to use the former name.
- Get update URL from host.
- Use an execline script instead of a shell script.
- Update script:
- Unmount shared directory if already mounted. This avoids errors
when mounting it again.
- Delete old snapshot if present.
- Provide the VM information with a different directory layout.
- Do not bind-mount the information passed into the VM into the shared
VM folder. Instead rely on this folder being read-only to the
guest. This is enforced by a read-only bind mount in virtiofs's
mount namespace.
- Testing:
- Lots of manual update testing.
- Disable the test for the live image as it doesn't work anymore.
- Nix:
- Move validation to a separate low-priority patch.
- Documentation:
- Document that updating the system is now possible.
- Installer:
- Remove the "Try Spectrum" button.
-

- Link to v1: https://spectrum-os.org/lists/archives/spectrum-devel/20251029-updates-v1-0-401c1be2a11b@gmail.com

---
Demi Marie Obenour (8):
host/rootfs: Install all programs from util-linuxMinimal
host/rootfs: Install systemd-pull
tools: Add directory checker for updates
Adjust partition layout to support updates
release: Create directory with system update
Support updates via systemd-sysupdate
Documentation: Update support
lib/config.nix: Validate configuration parameters

Documentation/development/build-configuration.adoc | 11 ++
Documentation/installation/index.adoc | 3 +-
Documentation/using-spectrum/index.adoc | 2 +
Documentation/using-spectrum/updates.adoc | 29 +++++
host/efi.nix | 5 +-
host/initramfs/Makefile | 12 +-
host/initramfs/default.nix | 1 +
host/initramfs/etc/init | 17 +--
host/initramfs/etc/probe | 20 +--
host/initramfs/shell.nix | 2 +
host/rootfs/Makefile | 23 ++--
host/rootfs/busybox-config | 134 +++++++++++++++++++++
host/rootfs/busybox-config.license | 4 +
host/rootfs/default.nix | 82 ++++++++-----
host/rootfs/file-list.mk | 4 +
host/rootfs/image/etc/fstab | 1 +
.../image/etc/sysupdate.d/50-verity.transfer | 20 +++
host/rootfs/image/etc/sysupdate.d/60-root.transfer | 20 +++
.../image/etc/sysupdate.d/70-kernel.transfer | 20 +++
host/rootfs/image/usr/bin/update | 89 ++++++++++++++
host/rootfs/os-release.in | 13 ++
host/rootfs/os-release.in.license | 2 +
host/rootfs/shell.nix | 2 +
host/rootfs/updatevm-url-env | 3 +
host/rootfs/vm-sysupdate.d/50-verity.transfer | 18 +++
host/rootfs/vm-sysupdate.d/60-root.transfer | 18 +++
host/rootfs/vm-sysupdate.d/70-kernel.transfer | 18 +++
img/app/Makefile | 2 +-
img/app/default.nix | 1 +
lib/config.default.nix | 3 +
lib/config.nix | 41 ++++++-
lib/fake-update-signing-key.gpg | 1 +
lib/fake-update-signing-key.gpg.license | 2 +
lib/kcmdline-utils.mk | 5 +
release.nix | 2 +
release/checks/integration/try.c | 4 +
release/checks/no-roothash.nix | 2 +-
release/combined/eosimages.nix | 14 ++-
release/combined/grub.cfg.in | 5 -
release/live/Makefile | 9 +-
release/live/default.nix | 8 +-
release/live/shell.nix | 4 +-
release/update.nix | 30 +++++
scripts/format-uuid.awk | 35 ++++++
scripts/make-gpt.bash | 72 +++++++++++
scripts/make-gpt.sh | 67 +----------
scripts/make-live-image.sh | 43 +++++++
scripts/sfdisk-field.awk | 3 +-
tools/default.nix | 1 +
tools/meson.build | 4 +
tools/updates-dir-check.c | 78 ++++++++++++
vm/app/updates.nix | 37 ++++++
vm/sys/net/Makefile | 2 +-
vm/sys/net/default.nix | 1 +
54 files changed, 895 insertions(+), 154 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 001037d8841613f2858e79daee83a930799d2f6c
change-id: 20250928-updates-92e99849e231
prerequisite-patch-id: a756e9643d106f5ce5ab1bb713875f9551ba6e2a
prerequisite-patch-id: 33a6c22a2130e94e6d09bafcab75b8263f66ee75

--
Sincerely,
Demi Marie Obenour (she/her/hers)