User Interface

There are two UI implementations but in practice the ncurses client petitboot-nc is the primary interface.

The default view includes a list of discovered boot options and links to other sub screens. Common shortcuts include:

Shortcut
i	Open the System Information screen
e	View/Edit a boot option details
g	View the status update log
l	Open the Language screen
c	Open the System Configuration screen
n	Create/Edit a boot option
h	Show help text for the current screen
x	Exit to the shell
Ctrl-L	Refresh/Redraw the display

System Information

Provides an overview of the system, in particular discovered partitions and network interfaces. Depending on the platform can also include information on firmware versions, BMC information, etc.

System Configuration

The primary method to configure Petitboot. From here the user can configure the Auto Boot Order order, network interface behaviour, Snapshots settings, and handle platform-specific options like IPMI overrides and default consoles.

Boot Option Editor

The boot option editor displays the source device and boot resources for a given option. All fields are editable; paths are relative to the source device or full URLs for remote resources.

Status Log

The status log keeps a running log of all status updates that normally appear in the bottom line of the interface.

Plugin Menu

The plugin menu displays a list of all known Plugins and whether they are installed or not. “Enter” installs a plugin, and “e” on an installed interface enters a detailed view of the plugin from which a user can run the plugin.

Shell

At any time the user may drop to a shell by exiting the UI, depending on how Petitboot has been built. This is usually a relatively feature-ful sh shell with Busybox utilities but Petitboot doesn’t make any particular guarantees about available tools aside from those it uses itself.