Bootlet

Bootlet is a minimal Linux that boots before the main OS, providing a quick access to simple tools and a selection of operating systems to boot into.

You are dropped into a shell environment less than a second after the computer logo appears. You can pair Bootit with Bootlet to get it windows, it linux command to boot into your favorite OS directly from Bootlet.

Usage

To create a Bootlet image, use the following command:

bootlet -c <config_path> -o <output_img_path>

Where <config_path> is the path to your Bootlet configuration file and <output_img_path> is the desired output .img file path. You can then write this image to a USB drive or other bootable media.

Configuration

Bootlet uses a configuration file to define its behavior and the operating systems available for booting. The configuration file is in yaml format. Bootlet is designed to produce identical images for identical configuration.

Manual Configuration

You can manually create a configuration file in yaml format. Basic template of the configuration file can be generated using:

bootlet --write-default-config

This will create config.yaml in the current directory.

Suggested Configuration

• Bootlet Switch: A physical toggle switch under your table that lets you choose between two different Bootlet configurations at boot time.

Configuration Options

• busybox, linux_kernel, systemd_boot_binary: Refers to the paths of binaries that always need to be provided. Each field can either be set to type: auto_download to let Bootlet download the latest version automatically, or type: path with path: <your path> to provide a custom binary. Following is example of busybox configuration:

  busybox:
    type: path
    path: "/path/to/your/busybox"
  

• rootfs_size_mb: Size of the root filesystem in megabytes.
• extra_init_script: Extra piece of shell script that will be executed after OS initialization of Bootlet. Since this is injected inside init script, you should only include shell commands here. No #!/bin/sh. Also, this option contains direct text, not a path to a file. Following is an example that adds a custom message to be displayed on boot:

  extra_init_script: |
    echo "Welcome to Bootlet!"
  

• extra_bin_files: List of extra binary files to be included in the Bootlet image. Each entry should specify the file (path on the host system) and target (path inside the Bootlet environment). Following is an example:

  extra_bin_files:
    - source_path: "./bootit"
      destination_path: "/bin/bootit"
    - source_path: "./it"
      destination_path: "/bin/it"