Crate iso_parser 

iso-parser

Boot entry discovery from ISO installation media. Scans directories for .iso files, detects distribution layouts (Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL family, Alpine, NixOS, Mint), and extracts the kernel + initrd paths a bootloader needs to hand off via kexec_file_load(2).

Part of the aegis-boot rescue environment — a signed-chain UEFI Secure Boot stick that boots any ISO.

Design

• No unsafe. #![forbid(unsafe_code)] at the crate level. This crate parses untrusted ISO content; it has no business calling raw syscalls.
• Stateless. No global state, no filesystem mounts, no network. Caller supplies paths; parser returns structured data.
• No_std capable via the std feature flag (on by default).

Supported layouts

Distribution	Detection marker
Arch Linux	/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz-linux
Debian / Ubuntu	/install/, /casper/, /.disk/, /pool/, or /dists/
Fedora	/images/pxeboot/
RHEL / Rocky / Alma	Same as Fedora; distinct lockdown policy recorded separately
Alpine	/boot/vmlinuz-lts + /boot/initramfs-lts
NixOS	/boot/bzImage
Linux Mint	Debian-family layout in /casper/

Usage

// Illustrative shape only. Caller supplies an `IsoEnvironment` —
// trait for mount/unmount + metadata. The production impl shells
// out to mount(8); tests use `MockIsoEnvironment` for per-test
// in-memory fixtures. See the in-repo integration tests
// (crates/iso-parser/src/lib.rs::tests) for concrete call sites.
use iso_parser::IsoParser;
use std::path::Path;

let env: MyIsoEnvironment = /* ... */;
let parser = IsoParser::new(env);
let entries = parser
    .scan_directory(Path::new("/mnt/iso"))
    .await?;
for entry in entries {
    println!("kernel: {}", entry.kernel.display());
    println!("initrd: {}", entry.initrd.display());
}

The text fence keeps this illustrative — the concrete types MyIsoEnvironment + the ?/await plumbing are consumer-specific.

See the API docs for the full surface.

Status

Pre-1.0. API is settling through real-hardware validation on the parent project’s test fleet (Framework / ThinkPad / Dell). Publishing to crates.io at 1.0. Until then, consume via the aegis-boot workspace.

License

Licensed under either of Apache-2.0 or MIT at your option.

---

Safety

forbid(unsafe_code) at the crate level — iso-parser ships to crates.io per #51 and a library that parses untrusted ISO content has no business calling raw syscalls. The kexec syscall lives in kexec-loader, the only crate in the workspace that’s exempt from this constraint.

Supported Distributions

• Arch Linux: /boot/ contains vmlinuz and initrd.img
• Debian/Ubuntu: /install/ or /casper/ contains vmlinuz and initrd.gz
• Fedora: /images/pxeboot/ contains vmlinuz and initrd.img

Usage

// Illustrative only — OsIsoEnvironment doesn't exist in this
// crate (real callers supply their own IsoEnvironment impl).
// `text` fence so this doesn't compile under `cargo test --
// --ignored` either.
use iso_parser::{IsoParser, OsIsoEnvironment};
use std::path::Path;

async fn example() {
    let parser = IsoParser::new(OsIsoEnvironment::new());
    let entries = parser.scan_directory(Path::new("/media/isos")).await?;
    for entry in entries {
        println!("Found: {} ({:?})", entry.label, entry.distribution);
    }
}

Structs

BootEntry

Represents a discovered boot entry from an ISO

IsoParser

ISO Parser - main entry point for boot discovery

OsIsoEnvironment

OS-specific implementation of IsoEnvironment

Enums

Distribution

Supported distribution families.

IsoError

Errors that can occur during ISO parsing

Traits

IsoEnvironment

Environment abstraction for file system and OS operations

Functions

read_pretty_name

Best-effort “friendly” distro name for a mounted ISO.