slinstaller

The system installer for Sunlight Linux, a UEFI-only Linux distribution. Written in Go as a port and adaptation of clr-installer: the core subsystems are reimplemented (not copied) and reduced to what Sunlight installs, and it reads clr-installer's config format, so an existing clr-installer config.yaml runs here. This is the same relationship slinit has to dinit.

A full install runs end to end under UEFI: it partitions and formats the disk, lays down the base system, installs GRUB, and configures first boot.

Interim: Sunlight has no package repository of its own yet, so until it does slinstaller installs the base system from Void's official repo. That means a test install currently comes up with runit, not slinit — enough to prove the installer end to end; slinit takes over once it is in a repo we control.

What it installs

The install runs as an ordered sequence; each step is its own package:

pre-install hooks → partition → mount → bind /proc,/sys,/dev
  → base system (xbps) → fstab → swap file → bootloader (GRUB-EFI)
  → first-boot config → network → save config → post-install hooks

Area	What it does
Disk	GPT, an EFI System Partition, partitions by parted; mkfs.* / mkswap; the last partition can fill the disk
Encryption	LUKS on any partition typed crypt (cryptsetup, crypttab, rd.luks cmdline, initramfs rebuild)
Swap	a swap partition, or a swap file (swapFileSize)
Base system	xbps-install from a repository, with the signing keys and a chrooted reconfigure
Bootloader	GRUB for UEFI (grub-install + grub-mkconfig), kernel arguments from the config
First boot	hostname, timezone, console keymap, locale, user accounts (with wheel sudo for admins and SSH keys)
Network	dhcpcd (DHCP by default; static interfaces become /etc/dhcpcd.conf stanzas)
Hooks	pre/post-install commands, chrooted or not, with $chrootDir/$chrooted

Not yet: a full-screen TUI (there is an interactive prompt flow), LVM and RAID. Deliberately out of scope: BIOS/MBR, systemd, Clear Linux specifics.

Using it

slinstaller runs as root from a live medium, against the machine's disk. It is destructive, so it defaults to a dry run and makes you confirm.

# Build
go build -o slinstaller ./cmd/slinstaller

# See the disks
./slinstaller --list-disks

# From a config file: print the plan (touches nothing), then carry it out
./slinstaller config.yaml
sudo ./slinstaller --apply config.yaml      # retype the disk path to confirm

# Or interactively (no config file): pick a disk and answer a few questions
sudo ./slinstaller

Useful flags: --repo/--keys/--arch/--packages for the base install, --root for the target mount tree, and --through <stage> to run only up to a stage (for VM testing). An encrypted layout takes its passphrase from SLINSTALLER_LUKS_PASSPHRASE or a prompt — never from the config.

⚠️ Partitioning, formatting and bootloader installs are irreversible. Try changes in a VM (QEMU + OVMF) against a scratch image — see demo/vm, a reproducible harness that boots a live ISO and installs end to end. Never on a disk with data you care about.

The config

The config is clr-installer's format. A minimal UEFI install:

targetMedia:
- name: sda
  type: disk
  children:
  - { name: sda1, type: part,  fstype: vfat, mountpoint: /boot, size: 512M }
  - { name: sda2, type: part,  fstype: swap, size: 2G }
  - { name: sda3, type: part,  fstype: ext4, mountpoint: / }   # no size = fill
hostname: sunlight
keyboard: us
language: en_US.UTF-8
users:
- login: me
  password: "$6$...crypt hash..."   # never a plaintext password
  admin: true                        # wheel + sudo

Mark a partition type: crypt to encrypt it. Validate reports every problem at once before any disk is touched. See demo/uefi-basic.yaml and doc/architecture.md.

Where this fits

slinstaller is one of the projects in the Sunlight Linux tree, wired up via slmanifests:

repo init -u https://github.com/sunlightlinux/slmanifests.git -b main
repo sync -j4
# slinstaller lands at src/installer/

Documentation

• doc/architecture.md — the config, the boundary, the port
• doc/port-status.md — what is ported from clr-installer, what is left
• CHANGELOG.md · STABILITY.md — what changed, what is stable
• CONTRIBUTING.md · SECURITY.md · CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
• CLAUDE.md / EXAMPLES.md — guidelines for LLM-assisted work

License

Apache License 2.0.