This spike aims to explore and enhance the interaction between Podman Quadlet and bootc images. bootc images represent a new paradigm for deploying operating systems as OCI images, where the OS itself is a container image. Podman Quadlet provides a declarative way to manage Podman containers and pods as systemd services.

The goal of this spike is to understand the current state of integration and identify areas for improvement to ensure that bootc images, which are "logically bound" (meaning the OS and its applications are tightly coupled within the image), can be effectively managed and orchestrated using Podman Quadlet. This includes investigating:

• Bootc Image Lifecycle: How do bootc images behave during system boot, updates, and rollbacks, and how can Quadlet best integrate with these lifecycle events?

• Service Definition: Best practices and potential challenges in defining systemd services for applications running within a bootc image using Quadlet.

• Resource Management: How to effectively manage resources (e.g., storage, networking) for containers launched via Quadlet from a bootc environment.

• Logging and Monitoring: Ensuring proper capture and forwarding of logs from Quadlet-managed services within bootc images.

• Security Contexts: Understanding how security contexts and isolation are maintained when Quadlet services interact with the bootc host.

• Deployment Scenarios: Exploring common deployment patterns and identifying any limitations or complexities when combining these technologies.

Deliverables

• Integration Assessment: A document detailing the current level of integration between Podman Quadlet and bootc images, including strengths and weaknesses.

• Proof-of-Concept (if feasible): A simple working example demonstrating a Quadlet-managed service running within a bootc environment.

• Identified Gaps/Challenges: A list of specific technical challenges, missing features, or areas requiring further development or documentation for robust integration.

• Recommendations: Concrete suggestions for improving the integration, including potential code changes, documentation updates, or best practices.