Adds `--distro steamos` as a first-class build target. Pattern is the
same as bazzite-deck/batocera: distros/steamos/build-rootfs.sh fetches
the upstream rootfs (Valve's Steam Deck recovery .img.bz2 from
steamdeck-images.steamos.cloud), extracts the rootfs-A + var-A btrfs
slots into $CHROOT, swaps in our linux-ps5 kernel pkg.tar.zst, and
rebuilds the initramfs with the modules amdgpu needs for the PS5
Oberon GPU.
PS5-specific fixes applied to the SteamOS rootfs:
- Replace /usr/bin/steamos-session-select with a shim that writes
/etc/sddm.conf.d/zzz-session-override.conf directly + restarts sddm.
The vendored helper goes through steamosctl / steamos-manager whose
Deck-hardware code paths silently no-op on PS5, leaving the UI stuck
at "Switching to Desktop..." with no actual session swap.
- Install a small Python dbus monitor (steam-session-switch-listener)
that catches org.freedesktop.DisplayManager.Seat.SwitchToUser from
Big Picture's "Switch to Desktop" button and writes the same
override file. No -steamos3 / -steampal needed (those trigger Steam's
A/B update reboot loop on a non-Deck box).
- Drop a Return-to-Gaming-Mode.desktop into /home/deck/Desktop pointing
at steamos-session-select gamescope.
- chown /home/deck to deck:deck (the recovery image leaves it root:root,
which breaks ~/.config writability on first Plasma launch).
- Enable sshd + set deck:deck so the box is reachable for further
iteration without dragging a USB keyboard around.
- Patch /etc/fstab: comment out the by-partsets atomic mount entries
(those paths don't exist on a flat-rootfs flash), append a LABEL-based
/efi mount so the FAT boot partition comes up cleanly. Required for
ps5-iw620-firmware.service to find the WLAN blob.
- Append amdgpu.dpm=0 + amdgpu.gpu_recovery=0 to the kernel cmdline.
modprobe.d alone isn't enough — amdgpu loads before the rootfs conf
is read, so the cmdline is the only reliable path. Without these
Switch-to-Desktop produces a black screen on the PS5 HDMI output.
- Polkit-deny the deck user reboot/poweroff to break Steam's update
reboot loop on first boot.
- Patch steam-jupiter to skip its OOBE rm -rf path. The OOBE assumes
Deck factory layout and wipes /home/deck/.local if it runs.
Verified end-to-end on real PS5 (HW-rev EA-1102): autologin lands in
gamescope, Switch-to-Desktop and Return-to-Gaming both work, sshd is
reachable, ps5-iw620 brings up internal WiFi after firmware staging.
Files:
- distros/steamos/build-rootfs.sh (646 lines)
- distros/steamos/README.md
- distros/steamos/return-to-gaming-mode.desktop
- distros/steamos/steam-session-switch-listener.{py,service}
- build_image.sh: steamos → FORMAT=arch (uses linux-ps5 pkg.tar.zst)
- .github/workflows/build-image.yml: steamos in matrix options + distros list
Cachyos build on minipc-gh-2 failed with "Directory not empty"
because a previous run left a loop device backed by a (deleted) file
in image/work/, and rm -rf can't cross the live mountpoint. Lazy-
umount everything under the workspace + detach matching loops before
the rm so stale mounts don't fail subsequent runs.
5h cold-cache download from o2switch (only mirror, rate-limited to
~250 KB/s), and no persistent cache plumbing yet means every run pays
the full cost. Ship bazzite/bazzite-deck for emulation use cases.
#20 added the distro directories but missed updating the dispatch choice
enum and the 'all' matrix expansion, so the three new distros couldn't
be triggered through CI.
Polls ps5-linux/ps5-linux-patches for new kernel-X.Y.Z-<sha> tags at
04:00 UTC. If newer than build_image.sh's PATCHES_REF, bumps + pushes
to main; the push fires trigger-builds.yml which rebuilds all images
against the new kernel. Safe-skips if PATCHES_REPO has been forked.
Plain Debian 12 Bookworm with XFCE desktop, LightDM autologin, Firefox
ESR, and standard desktop utilities. Fills the gap between the heavier
Kali (Debian + security tools) and the headless Proxmox (Debian +
hypervisor) — a clean, lightweight Debian desktop for PS5.
Tested on PS5 hardware: XFCE displays over HDMI, boots to desktop.
[skip ci]
The release step now fetches the existing release body and merges the
new distro rows into it, instead of rebuilding the table from scratch.
This means a single-distro build (e.g. --distro fedora) only updates
that distro's row and checksum — all other distros stay in the table.
Previously, every single-distro CI run wiped the other distros from
the release page, requiring a manual API patch each time.
[skip ci]
Debian 12 Bookworm base with Proxmox VE 8.4 (pve-manager, pve-qemu-kvm,
qemu-server). Headless hypervisor managed via web UI at https://<ip>:8006.
Login: root/proxmox.
The PS5 kernel can't satisfy proxmox-ve's hard dependency on a Proxmox
kernel, so the recipe installs an equivs stub (ps5-proxmox-kernel-stub)
that Provides: proxmox-default-kernel before installing proxmox-ve. First
boot auto-bridges the PS5 ethernet into vmbr0 with DHCP. WiFi is not
included (Proxmox VM networking requires wired bridging).
Also wires proxmox into the CI matrix, entrypoint staging, and release
table.
[skip ci]
New fedora distro: distrobuilder fedora-http recipe with full GNOME
desktop (GDM autologin), the PS5 IW620 internal WiFi modules built from
nxp-imx/mwifiex + ps5-linux-mwifiex, and an RPM packaging path for the
shared PS5 kernel (docker/kernel-builder-rpm).
Notable PS5-specific fix: the kernel patches write into the
request_firmware() buffer to skip the firmware signature header
(gfx_v10_0_early_init, amdgpu_sdma_init_microcode). Fedora ships
firmware xz-compressed, and the kernel maps xz-decompressed firmware
read-only (fw_decompress_xz_pages -> fw_map_paged_buf -> vmap
PAGE_KERNEL_RO), so the write oopses amdgpu before /dev/dri exists and
the display never comes up. Distros with zstd or uncompressed firmware
decompress into writable buffers, which is why only Fedora was
affected. The recipe therefore ships the cyan_skillfish GPU firmware
uncompressed, materializing linux-firmware's dedup symlinks first
(unxz refuses symlinks).
Also installs umoci/skopeo in the image builder (Fedora 41+ bases ship
as OCI archives) and wires fedora into build_image.sh (FORMAT=rpm) and
the image-builder entrypoint.
Tested on PS5 hardware: GNOME displays over HDMI, internal WiFi scans
and connects.
[skip ci]
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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