Install firn¶
The snosi installer ISO includes firn and the host tools its installation pipeline needs. Boot it on the machine you intend to install. firn requires UEFI and runs as root from live media; it does not support legacy BIOS boot.
Use the installer ISO¶
Get the installer medium through frostyard/snosi, which builds and publishes the ISO. firn supplies the installer binaries, not the media.
The ISO offers 2 boot entries:
| Entry | Installer |
|---|---|
| Console | Opens the terminal wizard, including on serial consoles. |
| Graphical | Opens firn-gui full screen under cage. It falls back to the terminal kiosk when no usable display is available. |
Both frontends create a recipe and run the same pipeline. The graphical entry does not select a different image family or a different installation method.
Prepare the target
Save all data you need from the target disk elsewhere. Check its model, serial number and size before you confirm an install. A real install replaces the disk's partition table and filesystems.
Continue with your first install.
Install the CLI package¶
On Debian trixie with the Frostyard APT repository already configured at https://repository.frostyard.org/debian/:
This installs the firn command. Installing the package alone does not supply an installer environment or make it safe to overwrite a running system. Use live media and let preflight check the tools required by your recipe.
frostyard-firn-gui is for installer media, not installed systems. Do not add it to an installed desktop image. See the graphical installer design for the package boundary.
For a local build, use build from source.
Check the environment¶
From a live-media root shell, firn opens the terminal wizard. Its welcome page shows UEFI, Secure Boot and TPM detection. Without a TPM, passphrase-only encryption and unencrypted installs remain available.
For automation, prepare a recipe and run:
Validation checks the recipe against this machine. Dry-run also runs the pipeline's preflight checks without changing a disk. Neither command is a trial install that proves the resulting disk will boot. See headless installation.