VM smoke test of the first ISO reached GDM but no user existed (bootc-image-builder ISOs install unattended; gnome-initial-setup is not in the bazzite base). iso-config.toml creates parent (wheel) and kid with placeholder passwords to change on first login. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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BC-250 Console — local build → ISO
Custom recipe: recipes/bc250-console-gnome.yml (Bazzite GNOME + cyan-skillfish
governor + SSH/RDP remote admin + BC-250 ttm kargs). Build path is local
(no CI, no registry push, no cosign needed).
Two working paths: podman (BlueBuild's native path, use on a Fedora box) or docker (what was actually used for the first successful build, 2026-07-06, on Ubuntu 24.04 with a native dockerd). The docker path needs a few workarounds, all captured below.
Path A: podman (Fedora/bootc box)
bluebuild build ./recipes/bc250-console-gnome.yml
mkdir -p output
sudo podman run --rm -it --privileged \
--security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
-v ./output:/output \
-v ./iso-config.toml:/config.toml:ro \
-v /var/lib/containers/storage:/var/lib/containers/storage \
quay.io/centos-bootc/bootc-image-builder:latest \
--type iso --rootfs btrfs \
localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest
Note: mount the image's GPG keys as in Path A step 4 if depsolve fails on
terra-mesa (see below) — the same failure mode applies under podman.
Path B: docker (verified working)
Use a native dockerd, not Docker Desktop. Under Docker Desktop's VM,
podman-in-docker cannot exec anything ("Invalid argument") and bind mounts
outside the file-sharing allowlist are denied. A stock docker-ce daemon on
the host kernel works. (Plain docker may point at the Desktop context —
force the native daemon with docker -H unix:///var/run/docker.sock or
docker context use default.)
# 1. Generate the Containerfile from the recipe (note: 'bluebuild' must be
# given explicitly — the image entrypoint is dumb-init)
docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/bluebuild -w /bluebuild \
ghcr.io/blue-build/cli:latest \
bluebuild generate -o Containerfile ./recipes/bc250-console-gnome.yml
# 2. Build the image
docker buildx build -f Containerfile -t localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest .
# 3. bootc-image-builder reads podman containers-storage, not the docker
# store — copy the image over with skopeo via a throwaway local registry:
docker network create bibnet
docker run -d --name registry --network bibnet -p 127.0.0.1:5000:5000 registry:2
docker tag localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest localhost:5000/bc250-console-gnome:latest
docker push localhost:5000/bc250-console-gnome:latest
docker volume create bib-storage
docker run --rm --privileged --network host \
-v bib-storage:/var/lib/containers/storage \
quay.io/skopeo/stable:latest \
copy --src-tls-verify=false \
docker://127.0.0.1:5000/bc250-console-gnome:latest \
containers-storage:localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest
# 4. Bazzite's terra repos reference GPG keys by file:// path; the depsolve
# runs inside the bib container, so those keys must be mounted in:
cid=$(docker create localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest true)
docker cp "$cid":/etc/pki/rpm-gpg ./rpm-gpg-keys
docker rm "$cid"
# 5. Build the ISO (--rootfs required: the image sets no root-fs-type;
# iso-config.toml REQUIRED — the ISO installs unattended and the image has
# no first-boot account wizard, so without baked users the install is
# unloginable)
mkdir -p iso-output
docker run --rm --privileged --security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
-v "$PWD"/iso-output:/output \
-v "$PWD"/rpm-gpg-keys:/etc/pki/rpm-gpg:ro \
-v "$PWD"/iso-config.toml:/config.toml:ro \
-v bib-storage:/var/lib/containers/storage \
quay.io/centos-bootc/bootc-image-builder:latest \
--type iso --rootfs btrfs \
localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest
Heads-up: the ISO wipes and auto-installs to the first disk with no
prompts. Accounts come from iso-config.toml (placeholder passwords —
change on first login: passwd, and sudo passwd kid).
ISO lands at iso-output/bootiso/install.iso (~5 GB), owned by root — fix
with docker run --rm -v "$PWD"/iso-output:/o alpine chown -R 1000:1000 /o.
Kernel sanity check (before flashing)
Avoid kernels 6.15.0–6.15.6 and 6.17.8–6.17.10; prefer 6.18.x LTS / 6.17.11+.
docker run --rm localhost/bc250-console-gnome:latest rpm -q kernel
First successful build shipped kernel-7.0.9-ogc3.2.fc44 — fine.
Smoke test + install
- VM test: boot the ISO in a VM (KVM works headless:
qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 8192 -drive file=vm.qcow2,if=virtio -cdrom <iso> -boot once=d). The embedded kickstart installs unattended. Validates composition and the installer only — not the BC-250 GPU/governor/Mesa path. - Flash to USB (Fedora Media Writer / Impression /
dd), install on the board. Black screen at install → "Install in Basic Graphics Mode". - First boot, in the child's desktop session: run
bc250-remote-setup, log into Steam, set Steam Family View,sudo tailscale upif using it.
On-hardware validation (board, not VM)
vulkaninfo | grep deviceName # RADV GFX1013, NOT llvmpipe
systemctl status cyan-skillfish-governor-smu # active
cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_dpm_sclk # scaling present (may be card1)
sensors # sane temps; watch backplate airflow
cat /proc/cmdline | tr ' ' '\n' | grep ttm # ttm.pages_limit / page_pool_size
Then a real game for 30+ minutes for thermal/power stability.
Not baked into the image (per-board/per-user)
Modded BIOS + BIOS settings (512 MB dynamic VRAM, IOMMU off, auto power-on), RDP password/TLS cert, Steam login, Tailscale auth.
Security
- SSH/RDP LAN- or tailnet-only. Never port-forward 22/3389.
- If this ever moves to a registry (Gitea) for OTA updates: generate your own
cosign keypair, re-add the
signingmodule, and never reuse upstream's key.