MiniOS Kernel Manager 1.2.0

GTK3 and command-line tools for packaging, inspecting, activating, and removing Linux kernels in MiniOS.

Components

• minios-kernel-manager - GTK3 GUI application
• minios-kernel - CLI backend for kernel operations

Usage

# GUI application
minios-kernel-manager

# CLI commands
minios-kernel list
minios-kernel info [version]
minios-kernel activate <version>
minios-kernel package --repo <package> -o <output>
minios-kernel package --deb linux-image.deb linux-modules.deb -o <output>
minios-kernel delete <version>
minios-kernel status

All non-help CLI commands require root privileges. Add --json for structured output.

Packaging

Repository mode resolves split linux-modules-* dependencies and requires APT lists newer than 24 hours unless --force-update is used. Local mode accepts one or more .deb files; split kernels normally require matching image, modules, and modules-extra packages.

Packaging produces the kernel image, initramfs, and SquashFS module. Compact dpkg metadata from the source packages is retained under /usr/share/minios/kernel-dpkg/ inside the SquashFS. When a writable MiniOS root is detected, the completed package is staged into <MiniOS-root>/kernels/<version>.

Supported SquashFS compression methods depend on installed tools. The default is zstd; optional methods include lz4, lzo, gzip, lzma, xz, and bzip2.

Encrypted Persistence

When the running initrd advertises encrypted persistence, replacement kernels must provide dm-crypt support. The generated initramfs is checked for cryptsetup, dm-crypt.ko, and etc/minios-initramfs-crypt; packaging fails rather than activating a kernel that would make encrypted persistence unbootable.

Storage and Activation

The MiniOS root is detected from the running initramfs, mounted live medium, or supported mounted filesystems. Paths are relative to that root, for example:

<MiniOS-root>/kernels/<version>/
<MiniOS-root>/boot/vmlinuz-<version>
<MiniOS-root>/boot/initrfs-<version>.img
<MiniOS-root>/01-kernel-<version>.sb
<MiniOS-root>/boot/active-kernel

Repository and bootloader writes are confined and atomic. Activation requires a complete kernel package and GRUB configuration, updates SYSLINUX when present, and rolls back staged files if bootloader generation fails. It does not reboot the machine.

Build

make build    # Build translations
sudo make install
# Staged installation
make install DESTDIR=/tmp/minios-kernel-manager

License

GPL-3.0+

Author

crims0n crims0n@minios.dev