How do I setup brew on a ucore server?

uCore
1

I would like to get some extra tools/packages on my ucore server, so that it acts more like my aurora desktop when I ssh into it.

What is the best way to get homebrew installed and working on the system?

2

Copy, paste, and run the codeblocks on this web page: Homebrew on Linux — Homebrew Documentation

3

I built ucore-brew to do exactly this.

It uses the Universal-Blue-native way of customizing (via the ublue-os/image-template repo) the stock ucore image to include Homebrew by enabling the ublue-os/packages copr (see Bluefin’s build_files/base/02-install-copr-repos.sh), installing the appropriate brew package (see Bluefin’s build_files/base/04-packages.sh), then disabling the copr and enabling the appropriate services (see Bluefin’s build_files/base/17-cleanup.sh, lines 18-20 and 52).

Hopefully this helps someone else to do it in (what I think to be) the most Universal Blue-ish way! (I wish I could add all the permalinks to the Bluefin repo, but new accounts can’t add more than 2 links)

2 Likes
4

Don’t forget that you can export tools from a Distrobox, as a way to do this out of the box without needing Brew:

# Create the VM
distrobox-create --name toolbox

# Enter the new VM
distrobox enter toolbox

# Install apps via dnf
sudo dnf install btop npm

# Export apps back to the host
distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/btop
distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/npm
distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/node

Ignition

You can also do this from your Ignition file, which makes the whole process hands-free:

storage:
  files:
    - path: /usr/local/bin/post-ignition-distrobox.sh
      mode: 0755
      contents:
        inline: |
          #!/bin/bash
          # Set up Distrobox "toolbox"
          distrobox create -Y --image fedora-minimal --name toolbox
          distrobox-enter toolbox -- sudo dnf install -y btop age
          # Export packages
          distrobox-enter toolbox -- distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/btop
          distrobox-enter toolbox -- distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/age
    - path: /var/home/core/.bash_profile
      mode: 0644
      append:
        - inline: |
            # Add ~/.local/bin to PATH if not already present
            if [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$HOME/.local/bin:"* ]]; then
                export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
            fi
systemd:
  units:
    - name: post-ignition-distrobox.service
      enabled: true
      contents: |
        [Unit]
        Description=Post-install Distrobox setup
        After=network-online.target
        Wants=network-online.target
        ConditionPathExists=/etc/ucore-autorebase/signed
        ConditionPathExists=!/var/home/core/.local/bin/btop
        [Service]
        Type=oneshot
        User=core
        Group=core
        ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/post-ignition-distrobox.sh
        [Install]
        WantedBy=multi-user.target
1 Like
5

I got this running, and the easiest way was to build my image with BlueBuild, as they have a module that takes care of it. BlueBuild brew page. They take care of all the work getting it set up.

Here is my recipe file from BlueBuild as an example.

# description will be included in the image's metadata
name: uBlue-uCore-test
description: Custom FCOS Server

# the base image to build on top of (FROM) and the version tag to use
base-image: ghcr.io/ublue-os/ucore 
image-version: stable-nvidia # latest is also supported if you want new updates ASAP

modules:
  - type: dnf
    install:
      packages:
        - vim
        - zsh
        - util-linux-script
        - rpmconf
    remove:
      packages:
        - nano
  - type: brew
  - type: signing
1 Like
6

In case anyone is still looking at this in the future, do note that the Universal Blue team have upstreamed a consumable Homebrew tarball and integration for use in DIY bootc images:

The best way to bring homebrew to your custom bootc image!

Repository for generating Homebrew tarballs for redistribution on image-based systems via an OCI image. This includes general settings you’d want to use when using Homebrew on a bootc system, including a tarball and services for setting it up.