Parch Linux Bootc (Immutable OS)

An image-mode, immutable workstation operating system based on Parch Linux, delivered as an OCI bootable container powered by bootc, OSTree, and ComposeFS.

Features

• Declarative & Cloud-Native: Defined entirely in Containerfile and built in standard container CI pipelines.
• Atomic Updates & Rollbacks: Updates deploy atomically via OCI layer transport. Easily revert bad updates with bootc rollback.
• Three-Zone Filesystem Isolation:
  • /usr — Strictly read-only immutable system binaries and libraries.
  • /etc — Managed configuration tree with automated three-way merge on upgrades.
  • /var — Persistent, stateful user and application data (/home -> /var/home).
• No Local Pacman Drift: The operating system is fully immutable; pacman is purged from runtime to prevent configuration drift.
• Desktop Environment: Minimal KDE Plasma Desktop with Wayland, Dolphin (file manager), Kate (text editor), Ark (archive manager), Discover (software center), Firefox, and official Parch branding.
• Application Delivery & Compatibility Ecosystem:
  • Flatpak & Flathub: Decoupled native Linux desktop applications.
  • Distrobox & Kontainer: Run any Linux distribution (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Debian) inside terminal or GUI and export applications effortlessly.
  • Waydroid & Parchdroid: Full Android runtime container with Parchdroid GUI for running Android APKs and mobile applications.
• Kernel: linux-lts for long-term hardware stability and reliability.

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Directory Structure

├── .github/workflows/build.yaml  # Release-driven CI/CD container build workflow
├── Containerfile                 # Multi-layer declarative OS definition
├── Justfile                      # Automation recipes (build, lint, disk, VM)
├── README.md                     # Documentation
└── rootfs/                       # System assets copied into container root
    ├── etc/
    │   ├── pacman.d/             # Mirrorlist configuration (Parch & Chaotic-AUR)
    │   └── sudoers.d/            # Wheel group sudo configuration
    └── usr/
        ├── lib/
        │   ├── dracut/           # Dracut ostree & bootc initramfs configuration
        │   ├── ostree/           # ComposeFS & sysroot readonly configurations
        │   ├── sddm/             # SDDM display manager defaults
        │   ├── systemd/system/   # Flathub initialization & bootc auto-update units
        │   └── tmpfiles.d/       # /var directory structure provisioning
        └── share/plasma/         # Custom KDE default panel layout with Parch icon

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Developer Workflow

1. Build the Container Image

just build

2. Lint Container Image

just lint

3. Generate Bootable Virtual Disk (QCOW2 / RAW / ISO)

Generate a bootable virtual disk media using bootc-image-builder:

just build-disk qcow2

4. Test in QEMU / KVM

Launch the generated QCOW2 image in a local virtual machine:

just run-vm

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Installation & Maintenance

Bare-Metal Direct Installation

Boot from any live Linux environment with Podman:

sudo podman run \
    --privileged \
    --pid=host \
    --net=host \
    --security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
    -v /dev:/dev \
    ghcr.io/parchlinux/parch-bootc:latest \
    bootc install to-disk /dev/nvme0n1

Or run the interactive Python installer:

sudo python3 ../apadana-installer/installer.py

Updating & Staging

Check and stage OS updates in the background:

sudo bootc upgrade

To roll back to the prior deployment:

sudo bootc rollback

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License

GPL-3.0 License.