Boot Verification Implementation Plan#

For agentic workers: REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers (recommended) or superpowers to implement this plan task-by-task. Steps use checkbox (- [ ]) syntax for tracking.

Goal: Add a QEMU+OVMF boot verification step to bootcrew-nightly.yml that boots each installed image and fails the matrix job if a login prompt does not appear within 180 seconds.

Architecture: Two edits to .github/workflows/bootcrew-nightly.yml: add qemu-system-x86 ovmf to the apt install line, and insert a "Boot verification" step between "Verify installation" and "Cleanup". The step boots the loop device with KVM acceleration, tees serial output to a log file, and greps for login:.

Tech Stack: GitHub Actions, QEMU (qemu-system-x86_64), OVMF UEFI firmware, Bash.

File Map#

Task 1: Add QEMU tools to the apt install line and boot verification step#

Files:

• Modify: .github/workflows/bootcrew-nightly.yml

This is a CI-only change. There is no unit-testable Go code involved. The verification is done by triggering the workflow manually after the edit.

• Step 1: Add qemu-system-x86 ovmf to the apt install line

In .github/workflows/bootcrew-nightly.yml, find the "Install tools" step (line 50–52) and extend the apt install line:

Old:

      - name: Install tools
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update -qq
          sudo apt-get install -y podman xfsprogs btrfs-progs cryptsetup-bin ostree

New:

      - name: Install tools
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update -qq
          sudo apt-get install -y podman xfsprogs btrfs-progs cryptsetup-bin ostree qemu-system-x86 ovmf

• Step 2: Insert the "Boot verification" step

Insert the following step between the "Verify installation" step (ends at line 127) and the "Cleanup" step (starts at line 129). The working-directory default is fisherman/fisherman, so use working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }} to run from the repo root where the loop device path is accessible.

      - name: Boot verification
        working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
        run: |
          LOOPDEV="${{ steps.loopdev.outputs.loopdev }}"
          IMAGE_NAME="${{ matrix.image.name }}"
          LOG="/tmp/boot-${IMAGE_NAME}.log"

          echo "Booting $IMAGE_NAME with QEMU+OVMF (timeout 180s)..."
          sudo timeout 180 qemu-system-x86_64 \
            -enable-kvm \
            -m 2G \
            -drive file="$LOOPDEV",format=raw,if=virtio \
            -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE.fd \
            -serial stdio \
            -nographic \
            -no-reboot 2>&1 | tee "$LOG" || true

          if grep -q "login:" "$LOG"; then
            echo "PASS: login prompt found for $IMAGE_NAME"
          else
            echo "FAIL: no login prompt found for $IMAGE_NAME"
            echo "--- last 50 lines of boot log ---"
            tail -50 "$LOG"
            exit 1
          fi

Why || true after the pipe: timeout exits with code 124 when it fires, and QEMU may exit non-zero on -no-reboot. We capture the output first and let the grep decide pass/fail, so we suppress the QEMU exit code. The exit 1 inside the if block propagates failure correctly.

Why sudo on QEMU: The loop device is owned by root (created with sudo losetup), so QEMU needs root to open it directly.

• Step 3: Verify the full workflow file looks correct

Read .github/workflows/bootcrew-nightly.yml and confirm:

• The apt line now includes qemu-system-x86 ovmf

• The "Boot verification" step appears between "Verify installation" and "Cleanup"

• The "Cleanup" step still has if: always() so it runs even when boot verification fails

• Step 4: Commit

cd /var/home/james/dev/bootc-installer
git add .github/workflows/bootcrew-nightly.yml
git commit -m "ci: add QEMU+OVMF boot verification to bootcrew-nightly"

• Step 5: Push and trigger the workflow

git push
gh workflow run bootcrew-nightly.yml

Then watch the run:

gh run watch

Expected: each matrix job shows a "Boot verification" step. For a passing image the step log ends with PASS: login prompt found for <name>. For a failing image it prints the last 50 lines of the boot log and exits non-zero.

Self-Review#

Spec coverage:

All spec requirements covered.

Placeholder scan: None found.

Consistency: LOOPDEV is sourced from steps.loopdev.outputs.loopdev, consistent with how the existing "Verify installation" and "Cleanup" steps reference it.