zbm-dev/zfsbootmenu v1.8.0

ZFSBootMenu v1.8.0

on GitHub

ZFSBootMenu 1.8.0 offers a significant list of new features, fixes and general improvements.

Fixes

• When duplicating snapshots, the process can now be interrupted with SIGINT (Ctrl-C).
• Availability of sufficient free space is confirmed before attempting snapshot duplication.
• The generate-zbm command now ensures that the target directory for boot images has sufficient space, rather than copying partial and generally broken files.
• Because ZFSBootMenu never modifies filesystem contents, ZFS filesystems are always mounted read-only, even if the pool is writable.
• Changes to the handling of encryption keys correctly handle some corner cases, such as duplicating a snapshot of a filesystem with a different encryptionroot than its parent.

New features

• Colored text and timed messages are used to bring emphasis to important messages presented by ZFSBootMenu.
• Extensive logging to the kernel ring-buffer has been enabled throughout ZFSBootMenu, with verbosity controlled by the loglevel kernel-command-line argument.
• Much of the core menu functionality has been separated into a standalone zfsbootmenu program on the initramfs, allowing the menu to be accessed over SSH using something like the dracut-crypt-ssh module.
• Boot images can be configured to include tmux, allowing the boot menu to be presented in a multi-pane, detachable view. This is primarily aimed at development/debugging efforts. See descriptions of the zbm.tmux command-line option and the zfsbootmenu_tmux dracut option in the zfsbootmenu(7) manual page.
• ZFSBootMenu can now execute arbitrary, user-supplied "setup" hooks before the menu is displayed and "teardown" hooks immediately before jumping into a selected boot environment. See descriptions of the zfsbootmenu_setup and zfsbootmenu_teardown dracut options in the zfsbootmenu(7) manual page.
• Encryption keys can now be cached by pointing the org.zfsbootmenu:keysource property of a ZFS encryptionroot to a specific filesystem. When ZFSBootMenu attempts to load a key from a file:// location, it will first attempt to load the key at that location relative to the filesystem specified by org.zfsbootmenu:keysource. If this succeeds, ZFSBootMenu will retain a copy of the key in the initramfs so that subsequent need for the key (for example, when re-importing a pool read-write to set default boot options or duplicate a snapshot) will not require re-entry of the passphrase. See descriptions of the org.zfsbootmenu:keysource ZFS property in the zfsbootmenu(7) manual page.
• The Alt+C hot key provides the means to chroot into a selected boot environment. If the pool is mounted read-write, the chroot will be writable, allowing recovery operations directly from ZFSBootMenu.

Significant commits in this release

• 8ffe139 - Add a keybind for zfs-chroot, rework script with -lib in mind (Zach Dykstra)
• 2c3e9b5 - Support configurable, opt-in caching of key files (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 45d0066 - Add zlog() logging helper, along with debug-level logging (Zach Dykstra)
• 47aa434 - Add support for richer setup and teardown hooks (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 88818a9 - Support optional "teardown" script to run before kexec (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 2045315 - Optionally launch under tmux (Zach Dykstra)
• 7f71d4f - Mount ZFS filesystems readonly (Andrew J. Hesford)
• d559b96 - Improve key handling (Andrew J. Hesford)
• ee468aa - Initial split of core menu logic from initialization (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 25baa48 - Log dracut command, add man page documentation (Zach Dykstra)
• 3f02b8f - Prevent copying of partial files when target volume is full (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 258d18a - Merge fuctionality of createInitramfs and unifiedEFI (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 4b6e9ae - Add subroutine for debug logging (Zach Dykstra)
• 82bbdc4 - Rely on local IFS override instead of global changes (Zach Dykstra)
• 402474b - Make alt-w a toggle between R/O and R/W imports (Andrew J. Hesford)
• 953c724 - Richer color handling in timed_prompt (formerly warning_prompt) (Andrew J. Hesford)
• eb39ea6 - Show countdown in warning_prompt, use to display auto-boot countdown (Zach Dykstra)
• f10e7e8 - Rough avail space validation in duplicate_snapshot (Zach Dykstra)
• bc0e117 - Move duplicate to sub shell, exit on sigint (Zach Dykstra)