[PATCH v6 0/8] System updates based on systemd-sysupdate

Demi Marie Obenour
2025-11-29T09:51:12Z

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

Signed-off-by: Demi Marie Obenour <demiobenour@gmail.com>
---
Changes in v6:
- Remove build system changes that are not needed by the updater.
- Rely on Alyssa's patches for partition size control.
- Minor changes to individual patches.
- Drop link to patchset that has already been applied.
- Link to v5: https://spectrum-os.org/lists/archives/spectrum-devel/20251126-updates-v5-0-fd746748febd@gmail.com

Changes in v5:
- Fix broken shell.nix files in intermediate patches.
- See individual patches messages for more details.
- Link to v4: https://spectrum-os.org/lists/archives/spectrum-devel/20251121-updates-v4-0-d4561c42776e@gmail.com

Changes in v4:
- Fix build errors in intermediate patches.
- Apply suggestions from code review.
- Link to v3: https://spectrum-os.org/lists/archives/spectrum-devel/20251119-updates-v3-0-b88a99915509@gmail.com

Changes in v3:
- See individual commits for details. There are too many to mention
here.
- Link to v2: https://spectrum-os.org/lists/archives/spectrum-devel/20251112-updates-v2-0-88d96bf81b79@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):
tools: Add directory checker for updates
release: Compress installation images and remove live image
Use OS version to set partition labels and UKI name
Add B partitions to installation images
release: Create directory with system update
Support updates via systemd-sysupdate
Documentation: Update support
Validate configuration parameters

Documentation/development/build-configuration.adoc | 15 +++
Documentation/development/index.adoc | 2 +
Documentation/development/updates.adoc | 42 +++++++
Documentation/development/uuid-reference.adoc | 8 ++
Documentation/installation/getting-spectrum.adoc | 44 ++++---
Documentation/installation/index.adoc | 6 +-
host/initramfs/Makefile | 12 +-
host/initramfs/etc/probe | 20 ---
host/initramfs/shell.nix | 2 +
host/rootfs/Makefile | 21 +++-
host/rootfs/default.nix | 21 +++-
host/rootfs/file-list.mk | 7 ++
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 +++
.../image/etc/vm-sysupdate.d/50-verity.transfer | 18 +++
.../image/etc/vm-sysupdate.d/60-root.transfer | 18 +++
.../image/etc/vm-sysupdate.d/70-kernel.transfer | 18 +++
host/rootfs/image/usr/bin/spectrum-update | 87 +++++++++++++
host/rootfs/os-release.in | 15 +++
host/rootfs/shell.nix | 2 +
lib/config.default.nix | 3 +
lib/config.nix | 27 ++++-
lib/fake-update-signing-key.gpg | 3 +
release.nix | 2 +
release/checks/integration/meson.build | 2 +-
release/checks/integration/try.c | 29 -----
release/combined/eosimages.nix | 8 +-
release/combined/grub.cfg.in | 5 -
release/installer/run-vm.nix | 2 +-
release/live/Makefile | 8 +-
release/live/default.nix | 3 +
release/live/shell.nix | 4 +-
release/update.nix | 33 +++++
tools/default.nix | 1 +
tools/meson.build | 4 +
tools/updates-dir-check.c | 134 +++++++++++++++++++++
vm/app/systemd-sysupdate/default.nix | 26 ++++
vm/app/systemd-sysupdate/download-update | 68 +++++++++++
40 files changed, 681 insertions(+), 100 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: d76e9b29aea9f31238d07e21db50d3fe6a80da5a
change-id: 20250928-updates-92e99849e231
prerequisite-patch-id: 930207e73dcd127b5288db63b7e6e1a9cded1d1a
prerequisite-patch-id: 85ec04609f9a90ee9ad21d743655386fe39cfd5e

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