zedenv

Future development has been moved to zectl

ZFS boot environment manager

Documentation for the project can be found at readthedocs.

zedenv is still experimental and should not be used on production systems.

Install

zedenv requires python 3.6+, pyzfscmds, and ZFS running as the root filesystem.

The system should also be configured in the format:

${zpool}/${optional_datasets}/${boot_environment_root}/${root_dataset}

For example, zpool/ROOT/default or zpool/sys/hostname/ROOT/default.

zedenv can be installed a few ways:

• From the setup.py directly.
• From the Makefile.
• From the Arch AUR.

First, clone the git repos.

git clone https://github.com/johnramsden/pyzfscmds
git clone https://github.com/johnramsden/zedenv

Makefile and setup.py

To install without poluting your system, you can also create a directory somewhere and install in a venv, otherwise install to the system.

Optionally, create a venv and activate.

python3.6 -m venv venv
. venv/bin/activate

setup.py

Enter the repos and install.

cd pyzfscmds
python setup.py install

cd ../zedenv
python setup.py install

Makefile

Enter the packaging directory in the repos run make, pyzfscmds must be installed first.

cd pyzfscmds/packaging
make

cd ../../zedenv/packaging
make

How To Use

zedenv can be used to manage boot environments using ZFS. If your system is set up in a way compatible with boot environments, you can start using them right away.

Create and activate a new Boot Environment.

$ zedenv create default-0
$ zedenv activate default-0

This will make it the Boot Environment used on reboot.

$ zedenv list

Name       Active   Mountpoint   Creation
default    N        -            Wed-May-23-23:48-2018
default-0  R        /            Thu-May-24-23:54-2018

This can be shown with a list, command. The boot environment currently being used will have a 'N' in the active column signifying the boot environment is being used now. An 'R' in the active column means this environment will be used on reboot.

Bootloader Plugins

Bootloader plugins are available for:

• Systemd-boot
• FreeBSD loader
• GRUB (via external plugin)