Configuring os-release and versions
Commonly when building a bootc system, you will want to manage and maintain your own version numbers and branding for the resulting system.
The default base images use a *-release package (e.g. fedora-release, centos-release, redhat-release, etc.)
that contains key files such as /usr/lib/os-release (symlinked from /etc/os-release).
For more on the os-release file, see this reference.
Injecting additional metadata
A useful starting point is updating the VARIANT fields.
For example:
RUN echo VARIANT="My Custom bootc OS" && echo VARIANT_ID=com.gitlab.customos.foo >> /usr/lib/os-release
Managing the version number
The base images include an OCI standard label org.opencontainers.image.version.
As part of your build process, you may want to override it.
When doing so, it is also recommended to update the OSTREE_VERSION in the os-release file,
but this is not required. In the future, it is likely that the base images will use
the newer IMAGE_VERSION
key; using this now is recommended.
Replacing the os-release package
You can also entirely replace the os-release package, e.g.:
RUN dnf -y swap fedora-release generic-release --allowerasing && dnf clean all
The generic-release package is included in Fedora to denote the system is not Fedora, but is a derivative.
You can fork the generic-release package and provide your own custom one here.
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