Kickstart Reference

BruceOS is built from Fedora kickstart files. The kickstart defines every package, configuration, and post-install step that goes into the ISO. If it's not in the kickstart, it's not in BruceOS.

The primary kickstart is kickstart/bruceos-base.ks. It builds the Default profile ISO using livemedia-creator from the lorax toolchain.

What the kickstart does

The kickstart is split into three sections:

1. System configuration -- language, keyboard, timezone, disk layout, bootloader, repos
2. %packages -- everything installed from Fedora repos during the build
3. %post -- scripts that run after package installation to configure the system

System configuration

lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
timezone UTC --utc
selinux --enforcing
firewall --enabled --service=ssh

Disk layout uses ext4 with a 12 GB root partition (this is for the live image build; the installer handles partitioning during actual installation):

zerombr
clearpart --all --initlabel
part / --fstype=ext4 --size=12288

A liveuser account is created with wheel group access for the live session.

Repositories

The kickstart pulls packages from four sources:

Repository	What it provides
Fedora 43 base	Core OS, GNOME, system tools
Fedora 43 updates	Security and bug fixes
RPM Fusion Free	Multimedia codecs, additional drivers
RPM Fusion Nonfree	NVIDIA drivers, proprietary codecs

Additional COPR repositories are added during %post for packages not in the main Fedora repos.

Package sections

GNOME desktop

The @gnome-desktop group plus individual packages:

• gnome-shell, gdm, gnome-terminal, gnome-tweaks, gnome-software
• nautilus, evince, eog, gnome-calculator, gnome-text-editor, gnome-system-monitor
• Extensions: dash-to-dock, appindicator
• Plymouth boot splash with spinner theme

Terminal tools (from Fedora repos)

Packages available in the base Fedora repositories are installed in the %packages section:

fish, atuin, bat, fzf, zoxide, ripgrep, btop, fastfetch

Fonts

google-noto-sans-fonts, google-noto-serif-fonts, google-noto-sans-mono-fonts, jetbrains-mono-fonts-all, cascadia-code-fonts

System tools

git, curl, wget, unzip, p7zip, flatpak, podman, distrobox, firewalld, NetworkManager

Boot and firmware

dracut-live, GRUB2 packages (UEFI and BIOS), shim-x64, syslinux, linux-firmware, Intel wireless firmware

Post-install steps

The %post section runs two scripts after packages are installed.

Script 1: System configuration

Runs inside the chroot (the installed system). In order:

1. GDM auto-login -- configures automatic login for liveuser with Wayland enabled
2. CachyOS BORE kernel -- adds the COPR repository and installs kernel-cachyos. Falls back to the stock Fedora kernel if the COPR is unavailable.
3. Terminal tools from COPR -- enables COPR repos for starship, lazygit, and ghostty, then installs ghostty, starship, eza, lazygit, yazi, and zellij
4. RPM Fusion -- installs the RPM Fusion free and nonfree release packages
5. Multimedia codecs -- installs GStreamer plugins, OpenH264, and FFmpeg
6. Flathub -- adds the Flathub Flatpak remote
7. Fish as default shell -- sets Fish as the system default via chsh
8. Ghostty config -- writes system-wide config to /etc/ghostty/config
9. Fish config -- writes init script to /etc/fish/conf.d/bruce.fish (Starship, Atuin, zoxide init + aliases)
10. Starship config -- writes prompt config to /etc/xdg/starship.toml
11. GPU auto-detection -- detects NVIDIA/AMD/Intel GPU via lspci and installs appropriate drivers
12. Performance tuning -- sets vm.max_map_count=1048576 and vm.swappiness=10 via sysctl
13. ZRAM -- installs zram-generator and configures ZRAM at half RAM with zstd compression
14. OS branding -- writes /etc/os-release with BruceOS identity

Script 2: WhiteSur theme (network-dependent)

Runs with --nochroot (accesses both the build environment and the installed system). This script:

1. Checks for network connectivity. If offline, skips gracefully.
2. Clones the WhiteSur GTK theme and installs the Dark variant.
3. Clones the WhiteSur icon theme and installs it.
4. Writes GNOME dconf defaults: theme, fonts, window button layout, dock position, favorite apps, enabled extensions.
5. Compiles the dconf database.

If the build has no network access, the system boots with Adwaita defaults. The theme can be installed later.

How to add packages

Fedora packages

If the package is in the Fedora repos, add it to the %packages section:

%packages
# ... existing packages ...
your-new-package
%end

COPR packages

If the package is in a COPR repository, add it to the %post section:

# In %post
dnf copr enable -y owner/repo-name
dnf install -y your-copr-package || echo "WARN: your-copr-package not available"

Always include a fallback or || true so the build doesn't fail if the COPR is temporarily down.

Flatpak applications

Flatpak apps should not be pre-installed in the ISO (they're large and change frequently). Instead, the Flathub remote is configured so users can install Flatpak apps after boot.

Kickstart files

File	Profile	Status
bruceos-base.ks	Default	Available
bruceos-gaming.ks	Gaming	Planned
bruceos-vfx.ks	VFX	Planned
bruceos-pi.ks	Kids (ARM64)	Planned