chore: Consume config directly without untarring (Guest) #8234
Conversation
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Config files are passed from the HostOS into the GuestOS using a config media (aka virtual USB stick) which the GuestOS sees as a block device (usually under `/dev/sda`) containing a vfat filesystem. Previously config files were not directly stored in the filesystem, but they were tarred into a single ic-bootstrap.tar file which was then written to the config media. The tarring step is unnecessary and makes accessing the config files more difficult since the files have to be untarred first. Furthermore, tars can contain unwanted entries, such as symlinks, devices etc. which can be misused by a malicious host (these are not supported by vfat). The migration consists of 3 steps: 1) (this PR) Prepare GuestOS to read files directly from the config media and fall back to `ic-bootstrap.tar` when it exists for backwards compatibility. 2) Once 1) has been rolled out to all nodes, stop tarring in HostOS. 3) Once 2) has been rolled out to all nodes, remove fallback from GuestOS.
frankdavid
added a commit
that referenced
this pull request
Jan 6, 2026
Config files are passed from the HostOS into the GuestOS using a config media (aka virtual USB stick) which the GuestOS sees as a block device (usually under `/dev/sda`) containing a vfat filesystem. Previously config files were not directly stored in the filesystem, but they were tarred into a single ic-bootstrap.tar file which was then written to the config media. The tarring step is unnecessary and makes accessing the config files more difficult since the files have to be untarred first. Furthermore, tars can contain unwanted entries, such as symlinks, devices etc. which can be misused by a malicious host (these are not supported by vfat). The migration consists of 3 steps: 1) Prepare GuestOS to read files directly from the config media and fall back to `ic-bootstrap.tar` when it exists for backwards compatibility. (#8234) 2) (this PR) Once 1) has been rolled out to all nodes, stop tarring in HostOS. 3) Once 2) has been rolled out to all nodes, remove fallback from GuestOS.
andrewbattat
approved these changes
Jan 6, 2026
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
2 participants
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.
Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.
Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.
You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.
Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.
This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.
Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.
Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.
Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Config files are passed from the HostOS into the GuestOS using a config media (aka virtual USB stick) which the GuestOS sees as a block device (usually under
/dev/sda) containing a vfat filesystem. Previously config files were not directly stored in the filesystem, but they were tarred into a single ic-bootstrap.tar file which was then written to the config media.The tarring step is unnecessary and makes accessing the config files more difficult since the files have to be untarred first. Furthermore, tars can contain unwanted entries, such as symlinks, devices etc. which can be misused by a malicious host (these are not supported by vfat).
The migration consists of 3 steps:
(this PR) Prepare GuestOS to read files directly from the config media and fall back to
ic-bootstrap.tarwhen it exists for backwards compatibility.Once 1) has been rolled out to all nodes, stop tarring in HostOS (chore: Consume config directly without untarring (Host) #8235)
Once 2) has been rolled out to all nodes, remove fallback from GuestOS.