F44 Change Proposal: Using Konflux for bootc-Based Artifacts [SelfContained]

Project Discussion Change Proposals
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Using Konflux for bootc-Based Artifacts

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Announced

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary :open_book:

Make Konflux the draft pipeline tool for building base images using the bootc toolchain.

Note that this is to start a discussion with the goal of making sure no one is blindsided by our eventual goal of production for F45 :slight_smile:

Owner :open_book:

Detailed Description :open_book:

The Fedora Image Mode/Atomic initiative will formalize use of KonfluxCI for building base images with the bootc toolchain. This change proposal is to set up a parallel toolchain for delivering base images, as per the initiative’s goal of being staging-ready for F44, with the intent that it can deliver beta base images to then improve for production readiness in F45.

Currently, there is a test pipeline running for various components of CoreOS. This change proposal is to allow the member groups in the initiative to take that pipeline, standardize it, and document it, as well as to educate interested members on how to maintain that pipeline without affecting current production systems.

Note that, for this release cycle, this tool will not affect the current build pipelines for other editions of Fedora. It only is and will be used for CoreOS, Atomic Desktops, and anyone else interested in bootc-based OCI artifacts. It is not affecting RPMs or the packaging build systems and is only for composed images.

References:

Feedback :open_book:

  • Not enough maintainers to have this toolchain: Currently, the toolchain is in draft use with CoreOS. Many of the issues are being worked on actively by the CoreOS maintainer team. In addition, new contributors have expressed active interest in learning to use and maintain Konflux to start contributing to Fedora.
  • Value prop for moving to this toolchain over Koji is missing: We believe that this is an ideal way to explore what that value prop is without disturbing the rest of the Fedora ecosystem. By ensuring that we try Konflux in a small slice of the ecosystem, we can try this new software factory CI system to understand whether it is worth continuing to pursue.

Benefit to Fedora :open_book:

This change will allow for trying Konflux across a larger part of the project and will bring in new contributors interested in building a repeatable process for building and maintaining Konflux pipelines. In addition, the change will help make builds for bootc-based OCI artifacts more sustainable through growing the teams building the artifacts and making the builds repeatable and testable.

Scope :open_book:

  • Proposal owners: Work with the CoreOS team to understand what they’ve already built and what are patches to make the system work. Identify what can be repeated versus what needs additional templating. Write up docs. Publish first base images as dev/staging to test out.
  • Other developers: N/A
  • Release engineering: N/A
  • Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
  • Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
  • Alignment with the Fedora Strategy: Yes, this change will drive to immutable variants being editions for Fedora and on driving innovation and leadership in technology (to try something different!).

Upgrade/compatibility impact :open_book:

As this is a parallel build system that does not change the end user experience, it should not affect the end user.

Early Testing (Optional) :open_book:

  • Do you require ‘QA Blueprint’ support?: Not at this time

How To Test :open_book:

As this is intended to be a test of moving to Konflux, there is not specific testing guidance. However, we hope that the base images produced are identical to the ones currently produced.

User Experience :open_book:

Users should not notice a change.

Dependencies :open_book:

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

In addition, this is focused on a sandbox activity.

Contingency Plan :open_book:

  • Contingency mechanism: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)
  • Blocks release?: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Documentation :open_book:

The group will be writing up documentation on how to use Konflux for this purpose. The process of writing this has already started (one of the members of the initiative is also working in the docs initative).

Release Notes :open_book:

Last edited by @siosm 2026-01-26T11:26:26Z

Last edited by @siosm 2026-01-26T11:26:26Z

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How do you feel about the proposal as written?

  • Strongly in favor
  • In favor, with reservations
  • Neutral
  • Opposed, but could be convinced
  • Strongly opposed
0 voters

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This change proposal has now been submitted to FESCo with ticket #3547 for voting.

To find out more, please visit our Changes Policy documentation.

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Related discussions:

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Some (intertwined) questions from this discussion:

  • Is it OK to publish release artifacts signed by the Konflux key?
  • Should we block switching to building via Konflux on the artifacts being signed by Fedora’s key?
  • Should we require that only for full Fedora editions? (i.e. that would apply to Fedora CoreOS right now but not Fedora bootc images which AFAIK are not yet considered an official edition)
F44 Change Proposal: Build FCOS on Fedora Konflux [SelfContained]