Feature Overview (aka. Goal Summary)  

RHEL image mode / bootc is currently planned to GA with RHEL 9.6. / 10.0  MicroShift should fully GA this with the release following RHEL 9.6 / 10.0 release. 

Goals (aka. expected user outcomes)

Users can utilize MicroShift on RHEL Image Mode, so that a fully self contained image that can be used for an offline/airgappaed zero touch installation of MicroShift on an empty node. Both for RHEL 9.6 and RHEL 10.0 

Requirements (aka. Acceptance Criteria):

1. RHEL image mode with MicroShift in it can be build using a Container file like "FROM ... RUN dnf install microshift ....", including artefacts needed at runtime "e.g. pull secret"
2. Required container images can be embedded (depending on RHEL support for that 
3. Customer workload can be added (e.g. via container file “COPY ….” of the necessary manifests. Incl. workload container images
4. A bootc base image that already contains microshift RPMs and containers is available for partners/customers to layer their solution on top of it. 
5. Additional drivers / packages that might be needed (e.g. for NVIDIA GPU support) can also be installed / added / configured. 
6. FIPS mode enabled fully supported.
7. All of the above for both X86 and ARM
8. All of the above for both RHEL 9.6 and RHEL 10.0
9. CI testing for at least req #1-4 

Questions to Answer (Optional):

Out of Scope

Background

n/a

Customer Considerations

Documentation Considerations

Needs to be added to the doc as third installation options (rpm, ostree, image mode)

Interoperability Considerations

In the long term, all other projects which deal with MicroShift cluster lifecycle management (AAP, ACM, FlightCTL) need to adjust / switch to image mode.