Galos

Minimal OS to run a containerd container

Overview

Inspired by projects like CoreOS, RancherOS, and Talos Linux, Galos is a minimal Linux OS powered by gokrazy that is primarily designed to run a single containerd container on IoT bare metal with as few executables as possible.

Note: As you probably guessed, the name 'Galos' is a nod to GoKrazy and Talos Linux (unless you're a Sidero Labs lawyer, in which case it's a tribute to the Galapagos Islands)

Prerequisites

1. Install Vim

2. Install Go >= 1.24

3. Run go install github.com/gokrazy/tools/cmd/gok@main

Instructions

1. Create a new gokrazy instance: gok new

2. Run gok edit and add your desired container in the PackageConfig section:

"github.com/ascension-association/galos": {
    "GoBuildFlags": [
        "-ldflags=-X main.container=ghcr.io/apptainer/lolcow:latest"
    ]
}

If the container doesn't have an automatic entrypoint command or you want to run your own, use this format:

"github.com/ascension-association/galos": {
    "GoBuildFlags": [
        "-ldflags=-X main.container=ghcr.io/void-linux/void-musl-busybox:latest -X 'main.task=cat /etc/os-release'"
    ]
}

Important: the ctr command-line tool, which Galos uses, requires fully-qualified image references, including the registry domain and the tag, such as docker.io/library/nginx:latest, and cannot be abbreviated to just docker.io/library/nginx or nginx or nginx:latest.

Note: if no container is provided, Galos defaults to docker.io/library/hello-world:latest

3. IF running on x86/amd64, do the following then save:

• add this line under the "Hostname" line: "KernelPackage": "github.com/gokrazy/kernel.amd64",
• change "GOARCH=arm64" to "GOARCH=amd64"

4. Add Galos and its dependencies:

gok add github.com/gokrazy/mkfs
gok add github.com/ascension-association/gk-containerd
gok add github.com/ascension-association/galos

5. If deploying via USB/SD at location /dev/sda: gok overwrite --full /dev/sda Otherwise, if you're targeting an already deployed instance: gok update

IF deploying via USB/SD, plug into target device and boot from it. Use the URL provided in the output of the gok overwrite step to load in your source machine's browser (note: you may need to replace 'hello' with the IP address of the target device).

6. Verify it worked by going to the gokrazy dashboard, clicking on the /user/galos link and reviewing the logs

7. Optionally, once confirmed working, edit your gokrazy config.json again and remove the "github.com/gokrazy/hello",, "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus", and "github.com/gokrazy/mkfs", packages (and even "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass", if you don't need SSH access), then run gok update to further minimize the device contents