Upgrade

How to upgrade EtchaOS.
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EtchaOS is delivered as two files: initrd containing the root filesystem, and vmlinuz containing the kernel image. The upgrade process for EtchaOS involves replacing these files with newer versions (or a different Variant, if you want to try something new).

Automatic Upgrade

EtchaOS disk images come with an EtchaOS source configuration under /boot/efi/etcha.libsonnet. The source periodically pulls the latest EtchaOS JWT from https://etcha.dev/releases for your current EtchaOS arch and variant, checks it against the EtchaOS signing key, and updates EtchaOS if it is changed.

Config

This configuration is not enabled by default. You must merge the source into one of your configs above to enable it, i.e.:

std.mergePatch((import '/boot/efi/etchaos.libsonnet'), {
  ...your config...
})

You can modify/override this source in your config to change various aspects:

  • Point pullPaths to an internal server your control (default: https://etcha.dev/releases/etchaos_<variant name>_<variant arch>.jwt)
  • Change runFrequencySec to different interval (default: 86400)

Variables

Additionally, you can set the following vars in your config to control the behavior of the upgrade process:

  • etchaosArch controls the Variant architecture that will be installed. Changing this is not recommended.
  • etchaosReboot is a timeframe provided to the reboot command after EtchaOS is upgraded. The current reboot command is systemd-run -u echaos-reboot %s reboot where %s is replaced with the value of this variable. The default value is --on-active=1s (reboot immediately). If this variable is set to never, EtchaOS will never reboot after an upgrade. The syntax is described in systemd.time. A calendar value can be provided, i.e. --on-calendar=04:00 to reboot at 4 AM. To cancel the reboot, run systemctl stop etchaos-reboot. To view the reboot status, run systemctl status etchaos-reboot.timer.
  • etchaosURL sets the base URL to download the EtchaOS files (like initrd and vmlinuz). This can be repointed to an internal server to distribute EtchaOS files from.
  • etchaosVariant sets the Variant type to be installed. This can be changed to switch between variants.

Manual Upgrades

EtchaOS can be manually upgraded by replacing the initrd and vmlinuz files with newer versions.