xfce-ublue

Fedora bootc/Universal Blue style image using XFCE, built with BlueBuild.

Note

This is not an official Universal Blue image. It is built from official and trusted upstream sources (the Universal Blue base image, Fedora/RPM Fusion packages, Flathub, and Homebrew). Currently, this image builds and runs successfully. The installer is not as smooth or quick as I would like (please be patient if it seems slow; it is not hung), but this is a known upstream Anaconda issue. Please review the "First Boot Summary" regarding potential startup delays during the initial boots.

This repository was developed using some directed AI assistance, although its contents have been manually tested and inspected. I believe it's important for anyone using open-source tools on GitHub to have this context before relying on them.

What You Get

• Base image: ghcr.io/ublue-os/base-main
• XFCE desktop (xfce-desktop-environment + lightdm + lightdm-gtk-greeter)
• Broadcom legacy Wi-Fi support tooling (rpmfusion-nonfree-release + b43-fwcutter)
• Firmware updates via fwupd and the GNOME Firmware Flatpak
• Homebrew via Universal Blue brew OCI image
• Flatpaks via BlueBuild default-flatpaks module (system scope, Flathub)
• Automatic updates via uupd.timer (system, brew, flatpak, distrobox)
• Signed image publishing workflows in .github/workflows/

Quick Start (Installer ISO)

Get the latest ISO — no forking or building required. That page always links to the current build's workflow run; open it and download the xfce-live-iso artifact from its Summary. Requires a GitHub login (GitHub Releases can't host a file this large, so it's an Actions artifact instead — see docs/install-iso.md for why).

The ISO boots into a live XFCE desktop; double-click Install to Hard Drive to run the Anaconda Web UI installer (the same mechanism Bazzite, Aurora, and Bluefin use) and deploy ghcr.io/danathar/xfce:latest directly to disk.

Important

This ISO is UEFI-only — it has no legacy BIOS boot support. Many hypervisors default new VMs to legacy BIOS, which will report the ISO as not bootable even though the file itself is fine. Enable UEFI firmware for the VM before booting it (e.g. in virt-manager: VM details → Overview → Firmware → pick a UEFI x86_64 option; equivalent settings exist in VirtualBox, VMware, etc.). Real hardware from roughly the last decade already boots UEFI by default.

Also use a target disk of at least 64GB.

Detailed instructions, caveats, and how to build your own ISO: docs/install-iso.md.

First Boot Summary

• First graphical login is gated on one-time system Flatpak setup, so reaching LightDM can take longer when network is available.
• If first boot had no network, that setup delay may occur on a later boot after network is configured (occasional).
• For non-Anaconda install paths (raw/qcow2 disk image), time defaults to UTC; set timezone after first boot.

More details and known quirks: docs/troubleshooting.md.

Documentation

• Local builds: docs/build-locally.md
• Installer ISO install: docs/install-iso.md
• Try the ISO in a VM (libvirt/virt-manager): docs/install-vm.md
• Disk image install (qcow2/raw): docs/install-disk-image.md
• Troubleshooting and known behaviors: docs/troubleshooting.md
• Automatic update/build cadence: docs/automatic-updates.md
• CI, signing, and update-path config: docs/ci-and-signing.md
• Using this repo as template or fork: docs/repo-template-or-fork.md