bootc

Transactional OS updates using container images

TLDR

Show deployments in bootloader order

$ bootc status

Check if updates are available

$ bootc upgrade --check

Prepare a new update and reboot

$ bootc upgrade --apply

Change OS base to new container image

$ bootc switch [image]

Reboot into previous deployment

$ bootc rollback

Apply transactional configuration changes

$ bootc edit

Install to a target block device

$ bootc install to-disk --target-no-signature-verification [/dev/sda]

Show status in JSON format

$ bootc status --format json

bootc manages transactional, in-place operating system updates using OCI/Docker container images. It enables atomic system upgrades where the entire OS is replaced by a new container image at boot time.The tool works with image-based Linux distributions like Fedora CoreOS and RHEL and provides rollback capability if updates cause issues. It builds on OSTree for atomic deployments and uses standard container registries for image distribution.

PARAMETERS

--check

Check for updates without applying them (used with upgrade)

--apply

Apply upgrade and reboot (used with upgrade)

--format FORMAT

Output format for status: json or yaml

--quiet

Suppress non-error output

SUBCOMMANDS

status

Show current deployments and their order in bootloader

upgrade

Fetch and stage a new version of the OS

switch

Change to a different container image

rollback

Revert to the previous OS deployment

edit

Apply configuration changes transactionally

install to-disk

Install the container image to a target block device

install to-filesystem

Install to an existing filesystem (supports LVM, LUKS, RAID)

CAVEATS

Only works on systems designed for bootc (image-based Linux distributions). Changes to root filesystem are lost unless using configuration management. Requires container image infrastructure.

HISTORY

bootc is part of the growing ecosystem of image-based Linux systems, building on technologies like OSTree and container images. It represents a modern approach to system updates pioneered by projects like CoreOS. Developed under the containers GitHub organization, it became a key component of RHEL image mode.