use bootc for os apply #27875

baude · 2026-01-07T19:57:09Z

Instead of using rpm-ostree, we now use bootc for os apply. the implementation is a little murky right now and will require some cleanup to implement bootc's transports. for now, we only support oci images from registries.

once we have an upgrade command, the transports can be added and the docs for apply can be ammended to be more clear.

Fixes: RUN-3836

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Does this PR introduce a user-facing change?

podman machine os apply now uses bootc switch.  at this time, we only support image registries and no additional transports.```

packit-as-a-service · 2026-01-07T20:12:05Z

tmt tests failed for commit 86c2374. @lsm5, @psss, @thrix please check.

Luap99 · 2026-01-08T10:35:23Z

docs/source/markdown/podman-machine-os-apply.1.md

 OCI image.
 ```
-$ podman machine os apply quay.io/podman/machine-os:5.4
+$ podman machine os apply quay.io/podman/machine-os:6.1


why do we point the docs to a version that does not yet even exists?

good question ... it was a funny position . i didnt want to say 5.8 to 6.0 to set a precedent that it would work, because i am not sure it would. I didn't really want to talk about this in the past, because well ... things have changed.

and also, i realized, this will need ta good scrubbing once upgrade is in place and the transports were added in so we have another opportunity to clean this up.

Luap99 · 2026-01-08T10:36:51Z

pkg/machine/os/ostree.go

-		if exists {
-			fmt.Println("Pulling from", "containers-storage"+":", imageWithTransport)
-			dir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", pathSafeString(imageWithTransport))


just to be clear to we no longer plan to support loading from a local image or do you want to add this back later?

that would be later ... i want to get upgrade in so we have a full solution. then we need to figure out how to add transports to this command. bootc doesn't use URIs, it uses --transport instead. so the question is do we allow the URIs to continue and then do a split on it OR do we mimic bootc and add a command line option? The latter is cleaner and ensures we don't have confusion of transport URI names.

good question, I don't have a strong opinion. Structurally speaking podman is all about using these transport URI strings for things like pull, push, etc... so it could be weird why only one command does not allow it.

Structurally speaking podman is all about using these transport URI strings for things like pull, push, etc... so it could be weird why only one command does not allow it.

+1

initially because i thought the transports would be sufficiently different and that in itself is not good. i can do a comparison once im ready to do that work. i def want to be able to pull it from containers-storage so it will not be forgotten.

Luap99 · 2026-01-08T14:05:43Z

pkg/machine/os/ostree.go

-	}
-
-	ostreeCli := []string{"rpm-ostree", "--bypass-driver", "rebase", fmt.Sprintf("ostree-unverified-image:%s", imageWithTransport)}
+	ostreeCli := []string{"bootc", "switch", image}


oh and just noticed if you repush might as well rename the variable

l0rd

Tested on arm64 windows using HyperV

l0rd · 2026-01-08T14:24:24Z

pkg/machine/os/machine_os.go

 	args := []string{"podman", "machine", "os", "apply", image}

-	if err := machine.LocalhostSSH(m.VM.SSH.RemoteUsername, m.VM.SSH.IdentityPath, m.VMName, m.VM.SSH.Port, args); err != nil {
+	if err := machine.LocalhostSSHShellForceTerm(m.VM.SSH.RemoteUsername, m.VM.SSH.IdentityPath, m.VMName, m.VM.SSH.Port, args); err != nil {


Is this change needed for the bootc command to work or is it a refactoring?

that change specifically is so the bootc status(pulling, applying) can be seen by the user; without the use of the ssh terminal, the user would never see it.

ashley-cui

LGTM, I'm okay with holding off on transport support on a later PR.

Instead of using rpm-ostree, we now use bootc for os apply. the implementation is a little murky right now and will require some cleanup to implement bootc's transports. for now, we only support oci images from registries. once we have an upgrade command, the transports can be added and the docs for apply can be ammended to be more clear. Fixes: RUN-3836 Signed-off-by: Brent Baude <bbaude@redhat.com>

packit-as-a-service · 2026-01-08T19:33:12Z

[NON-BLOCKING] Packit jobs failed. @containers/packit-build please check. Everyone else, feel free to ignore.

TomSweeneyRedHat · 2026-01-08T19:40:56Z

docs/source/markdown/podman-machine-os-apply.1.md

 ```

-Update the specified Podman machine to latest Podman 5.3 bootable OCI image.
+Update the specified Podman machine to latest Podman 6.1 bootable OCI image.


Suggested change

Update the specified Podman machine to latest Podman 6.1 bootable OCI image.

Update the specified Podman machine to the latest Podman 6.1 bootable OCI image.

If you take the note suggestion, drop 6.1 from this line too.

TomSweeneyRedHat · 2026-01-08T19:46:17Z

docs/source/markdown/podman-machine-os-apply.1.md

 than the client.  Unexpected results may occur.

-Update the default Podman machine to the most recent Podman 5.4 bootable
+Update the default Podman machine to the most recent Podman 6.1 bootable


Suggested change

Update the default Podman machine to the most recent Podman 6.1 bootable

**NOTE:** The functionality to rebase itself to the content of an OCI image is only available starting with Podman 6.1.

Update the default Podman machine to the most recent Podman bootable

Feel free to tweak the note line if you think it can be worded better.

baude · 2026-01-09T15:07:19Z

@TomSweeneyRedHat i created RUN-3963 to circle back and clean up things once os-upgrade is done and the story is clearer.

Luap99

LGTM

baude marked this pull request as draft January 7, 2026 19:57

github-actions bot added the machine label Jan 7, 2026

baude added the No New Tests Allow PR to proceed without adding regression tests label Jan 7, 2026

baude marked this pull request as ready for review January 7, 2026 21:32

Luap99 mentioned this pull request Jan 8, 2026

CI: vfkit broken on macos tahoe runners #27873

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Luap99 reviewed Jan 8, 2026

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l0rd approved these changes Jan 8, 2026

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baude force-pushed the bootcosapply branch from 86c2374 to 0b73122 Compare January 8, 2026 19:28

baude force-pushed the bootcosapply branch from 0b73122 to 76e14f7 Compare January 8, 2026 19:32

TomSweeneyRedHat reviewed Jan 8, 2026

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Luap99 approved these changes Jan 9, 2026

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Luap99 merged commit fd90d33 into containers:main Jan 9, 2026
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	Update the specified Podman machine to latest Podman 6.1 bootable OCI image.
	Update the specified Podman machine to the latest Podman 6.1 bootable OCI image.

	Update the default Podman machine to the most recent Podman 6.1 bootable
	NOTE: The functionality to rebase itself to the content of an OCI image is only available starting with Podman 6.1.
	Update the default Podman machine to the most recent Podman bootable

use bootc for os apply #27875

use bootc for os apply #27875

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