Transactional, in-place operating system updates using OCI/Docker container images.

The original Docker container model of using "layers" to model applications has been extremely successful. This project aims to apply the same technique for bootable host systems - using standard OCI/Docker containers as a transport and delivery format for base operating system updates.

The container image includes a Linux kernel (in e.g. /usr/lib/modules), which is used to boot. At runtime on a target system, the base userspace is not itself running in a "container" by default. For example, assuming systemd is in use, systemd acts as pid1 as usual - there's no "outer" process. More about this in the docs; see below.

The CLI and API are considered stable. We will ensure that every existing system can be upgraded in place seamlessly across any future changes.

See the project documentation.

Although bootc is not released to crates.io as a library, version numbers are expected to follow semantic versioning standards. This practice began with the release of version 1.2.0; versions prior may not adhere strictly to semver standards.

The bootc CLI is just a client system; it is not tied to any particular operating system or Linux distribution. You very likely want to actually start by looking at ADOPTERS.md.

• Github discussion forum for async discussion
• #bootc-dev on CNCF Slack for live chat
• Recurring live meeting hosted on CNCF Zoom each Friday at 15:30 UTC.

This project is also tightly related to the previously mentioned Fedora/CentOS bootc project, and many developers monitor the relevant discussion forums there. In particular there's a Matrix channel and a weekly video call meeting for example: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/bootc/community/.

Are you interested in working on bootc? Great! See our CONTRIBUTING.md guide. There is also a list of MAINTAINERS.md.

See GOVERNANCE.md for project governance details.

The bootc project is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Sandbox project and adheres to the CNCF Community Code of Conduct.

The Linux Foundation® (TLF) has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of TLF trademarks, see Trademark Usage.