CoreOS/Atomic Initiative Unification Kickoff

Project Discussion
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Hi folks!

Unification of the CoreOS working group and outputs with the Atomic Initiative, including the currently ongoing base images work, has been proposed (cc @dustymabe and @jmarrero, who kicked off this proposal together). You can read more about the proposal here:

After discussion in the various team meetings over the past few weeks[1], we met last week for an initial kickoff call. You can find the various artifacts (notes, presentation, recording) from that call here: https://nimbinatus.fedorapeople.org/#unification

We would like to bring the topic to the wider community to make sure everyone can be involved if you’re interested!

First, if you think you might be a stakeholder in this discussion, we want to hear from you! We are now brainstorming ideas, blockers, priorities, stakeholders, and more in this Etherpad on RiseUp leading up to the call. We’re especially hoping to hear from IoT and the Atomic Desktops along with CoreOS and initiative members.

Second, we will be holding another call this coming Thursday (Fedocal link). if you would like to join us on the call, you are very welcome! I’ll be posting the Meet link publicly in various spaces, including this one, closer to the day-of (mainly to cut down on call interruption by folks trying to disrupt rather than contribute). Note that this call will be recorded and transcribed by Gemini, so I’m happy to be your voice if you are uncomfortable being on the recording. A DM on Matrix/Slack/wherever you can find me or an email will reach me (though social network pings won’t as I avoid them during working hours).

You can also discuss here if you can’t make it. We would love to hear more from you.

  1. All of the notes can be found here:

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Hummingbird Community Meeting - 17 September 2026
Bootable Image Unification Meeting Agenda - 8 October 2026
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And meeting just about to begin: Google Meet meeting

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I will post links to the notes and video recording to this thread once they are uploaded.

[Edit - They’re live earlier than I thought they’d be. Yay good Internet! Find the notes, chat, and recording here: https://nimbinatus.fedorapeople.org/#unification]

However, here is an AI-generated summary, lightly edited by me, to give folks an overview:

Meeting Organization and Community Structure

  • Meeting Cadence: Participants agreed to maintain a two-track approach:
    • Day TBD: A future-focused, video-based call dedicated to the unification initiative.
    • Wednesdays: A tactical, chat-based meeting (using the existing Fedora CoreOS time) for ongoing maintenance and operational issues.
  • Unified Communication: The group decided to centralize communication by renaming and repurposing a primary Matrix channel, the #bootc:fedoraproject.org channel, to serve as the new home for the initiative.
  • Tracking Work: A new board on Forgejo, https://forge.fedoraproject.org/atomic/-/projects/750, will be used to track tasks and decisions. Participants will use “decide:” tags on issues to track architectural decisions, and an Architectural Decision Record (ADR) repo will be created.

Technical Vision and Challenges

  • Core Goal: The long-term vision is to establish a shared, base image that can support various downstream needs—such as IoT, desktops, servers, and automotive—while providing a “menu” of choices for users.
  • Minimum Viable Project (MVP): The immediate priority is to create an initial, unified bootable image.
  • The Ignition vs. cloud-init Debate: A central technical point of contention is whether the initial AMIs should support both Ignition and cloud-init.
    • Arguments for supporting both suggest it provides a better, “out-of-the-box” experience for users regardless of their preferred configuration tool.
    • Others raised concerns about complexity and fragmentation, suggesting the initiative should focus on a base that allows users to layer in their own specific needs.
  • Next Steps: Because of the complexity of these technical topics, the group intends to use an Architectural Decision Record (ADR) repository for asynchronous proposals and discussions, with the next synchronous meeting scheduled in two weeks.
Bootable Image Unification Meeting Agenda - 15 October 2026