# The public ISO release gate > **Written before the first release image was built** (2026-07-31), deliberately: a standard defined > in advance cannot be rationalised afterwards, and this is the artifact that most needs one — once a > file is on `iso.felhom.eu` and someone has downloaded it, it cannot be recalled. > > Design inputs: `documentation/audits/SPIKE-universal-iso-{1,2,3,4}-2026-07-31.md`. Every criterion > below exists because one of those spikes measured why. ## How to use it **Run every check against the exact file that will be uploaded** — not against build inputs, not against a sibling built the same way. A build is reproducible in theory and the uploaded bytes are what a stranger receives. **An absent finding is not a finding.** Each check records *what was scanned for*, so "no hits" means "this pattern was searched and did not appear", not "nothing occurred to me". **Any FAIL stops the publication.** Stopping is a good outcome. --- ## The criteria Let `$ISO` be the file about to be uploaded. ### G1 — No `answer.toml` ```bash osirrox -indev "$ISO" -find / -maxdepth 1 2>/dev/null | grep -cE "'/answer\.toml'|'/auto-installer-mode\.toml'" ``` **PASS = `0`.** *Why:* the answer file is the only secret-bearing artefact a Felhom ISO has ever carried (Spike 1 §6, by enumeration against the stock ISO). Removing it deletes the baked root hash, the disk profile, and the entire Spike 1–2 problem space in one move, and turns the most dangerous property of the image into a one-line assertion. Without `auto-installer-mode.toml` the stock `grub.cfg` does not emit the Automated entry at all (Spike 1 §5), so the unsafe path is absent by construction rather than guarded. ### G2 — No root password or hash ```bash osirrox -indev "$ISO" -extract /answer.toml - 2>/dev/null # must not exist (G1) # and, across every file the pipeline adds: grep -c 'root-password\|root-password-hashed\|\$6\$\|\$y\$\|\$2[aby]\$' ``` **PASS = `0` occurrences, and no `*.rootpw.txt` emitted beside the output.** *Why:* `build-felhom-iso.sh:270-283` mints a root hash unconditionally in the answer-file modes, and Spike 1 proved by extraction that it ships inside `/answer.toml` where any downloader can read it. On a published image that is one credential shared by every box installed from it. ### G3 — No SSH key baked ```bash grep -c 'root-ssh-keys\|ssh-rsa\|ssh-ed25519\|ssh-dss' ``` **PASS = `0`** across the pipeline-added files. *Why:* `FELHOM_ROOT_SSH_KEY` is one uncommented profile line away from shipping a shared key to every downloader, and Spike 1 §4.6 found exactly that had already happened on `demo-felhom` — from an **uncommitted** profile. Same shared-credential class as G2. ### G4 — No customer identity ```bash grep -c 'FELHOM_CUSTOMER_ID=[^"]\|FELHOM_RETRIEVAL_PASSPHRASE=[^"]\|claim[_-]code\|api[_-]key\|Bearer ' ``` **PASS = `0` with a value.** Empty variable *declarations* inside `felhom-bootstrap.sh` are expected and are not hits (Spike 1 §6 established this distinction — `:89` initialises them empty). ### G5 — No credential of any kind, by enumeration Diff the file list against the stock PVE ISO and inspect **every added path**: ```bash osirrox -indev -find / | sort > /tmp/stock.txt osirrox -indev "$ISO" -find / | sort > /tmp/rel.txt comm -13 /tmp/stock.txt /tmp/rel.txt # everything the pipeline added ``` **PASS =** every added path is accounted for and none carries a secret. Scan the content-bearing ones for: PEM private-key headers, `ssh-rsa`/`ssh-ed25519` material, `Bearer` tokens, `api_key=`, `passphrase=`, `password=`, `token=` with ≥12-char values, and crypt hashes (`$6$`, `$y$`, `$2[aby]$`). *Why enumeration and not a pattern sweep:* a grep only finds what it was told to look for. Spike 1 §6 found `/answer.toml` this way precisely because the earlier recon had grepped the wrong file. ### G6 — The boot menu is present, with both paths and a human timeout ```bash osirrox -indev "$ISO" -extract /boot/grub/grub.cfg /tmp/g.cfg grep -c '^[[:space:]]*menuentry ' /tmp/g.cfg # >= 2 grep -E '^set (default|timeout|timeout_style)=' /tmp/g.cfg ``` **PASS =** at least one interactive entry present; `set default=` points at an **interactive** entry; `set timeout` **≥ 10**; and `timeout_style` uses the **underscore** spelling. *Why the timeout:* Spike 2 lost an entire probe to a **1-second** menu. A human choosing between two install paths on unfamiliar hardware needs to read them first. *Why the spelling:* the stock PVE config writes `timeout-style`, which GRUB does not recognise as a variable name at all (Spike 2 §5.2) — Felhom's underscore form is the one that works. **Also assert the safety property still holds:** ```bash grep -v '^[[:space:]]*#' /tmp/g.cfg | grep -cE 'proxdebug|Rescue Boot|memtest|fwsetup' ``` **PASS = `0`.** > **Amendment, 2026-07-31, before the first build — recorded rather than made quietly.** > This criterion was first written as the six-token list `iso-repack.sh:160-164` enforces > (`proxtui|proxdebug|nomodeset|Rescue Boot|memtest|fwsetup`), on the stated rationale *"no live route > to a manual disk-picker"*. **That rationale is obsolete for a public image and was already obsolete > when it was written.** The operator's ruling makes the manual installer *the product*: the person > installing chooses their own disk in the stock installer, which shows the target and a `Bootdisk(s)` > summary before erasing. A token list whose purpose is to keep users away from the manual installer > cannot be applied to an image whose purpose is to offer it. > > Two tokens are therefore dropped **for the release image only**: > - **`proxtui`** — it is the Terminal UI *installer*, one of the two entries the image deliberately > ships; and > - **`nomodeset`** — a graphics fallback for the same installer, needed on hardware whose GPU the > default mode cannot drive. > > **Four are kept, and they are the ones that were ever the real hazard:** `proxdebug` (drops to a > shell), `Rescue Boot` (boots an existing system rather than installing), `memtest` and `fwsetup` > (not installers at all). The original six-token gate remains **unchanged** for the single-entry > appliance mode, where its original rationale still holds exactly. ### G7 — The Felhom package is present, at a recorded version ```bash osirrox -indev "$ISO" -find /proxmox/packages 2>/dev/null | grep -c 'felhom-' osirrox -indev "$ISO" -extract /proxmox/packages/.deb /tmp/p.deb dpkg-deb -I /tmp/p.deb | grep -E '^ (Package|Version):' ``` **PASS =** exactly one `felhom-*.deb`, its version recorded in the manifest, and its sha256 matching the package built from committed source. *Why:* Spike 4 measured that this is the only delivery mechanism that survives an interactive install (`[first-boot]` is never placed on the system — `Config.pm:118`, `Install.pm:746`, `:1360`). ### G8 — The postinst cannot fail, and cannot need what it hasn't got ```bash dpkg-deb --ctrl-tarfile /tmp/p.deb | tar -xO ./postinst > /tmp/postinst grep -cE 'systemctl (start|daemon-reload|restart)' /tmp/postinst # 0 grep -cE '\b(curl|wget|apt-get|apt|nc|ping)\b' /tmp/postinst # 0 grep -c 'set -e' /tmp/postinst # 0 tail -1 /tmp/postinst # exit 0 ``` **PASS =** all four. *Why, all four measured in Spike 4 §3:* `pid1` in the installer chroot is `unconfigured.sh` and **no systemd is running**, so `start`/`daemon-reload` are meaningless; the network was up only because the installer's DHCP happened to hold, so a box installed with the cable out has none; and a postinst that exits non-zero surfaces as an error in the middle of a customer's install — far worse than the stub not running. `set -e` is banned because it converts any unexpected non-zero into exactly that failure. ### G9 — `felhom-bootstrap.sh` matches repo HEAD byte-for-byte Extract the script from the package and compare: ```bash dpkg-deb --fsys-tarfile /tmp/p.deb | tar -xO ./usr/local/sbin/felhom-bootstrap.sh | sha256sum sha256sum scripts/iso/felhom-bootstrap.sh ``` **PASS =** identical. *Why:* it is the one genuinely frozen, drift-capable payload — everything else the box uses is fetched at run time from `main`. An ISO in a drawer for six months still runs this exact script. ### G10 — The profile and every build input are committed ```bash git status --porcelain scripts/iso/ # empty git rev-parse HEAD; git rev-parse origin/main # equal ``` **PASS =** clean and pushed, and the manifest records the commit. *Why:* Spike 1 found `demo-felhom` was installed from an **uncommitted** profile, so one of the two reference boxes cannot be rebuilt from `main`. A published image must never reach that state, and R-144 records a lab ISO that already has (`nested-probe`'s profile no longer exists). ### G11 — A published checksum, and a verified round trip **PASS =** the `.sha256` and the manifest are uploaded beside the ISO, **and** the file downloaded from `https://iso.felhom.eu/` checksums to the same value. The round trip is the claim — a local checksum proves only that the local file is what it is. ### G12 — The bucket stays private **PASS =** the bucket's `Public Access` remains **Disabled**; the custom domain is the only public path. --- ## Result recording Record each criterion as PASS/FAIL **with the observed value and what was scanned for**, in the release report. A criterion with no recorded observation is a criterion that was not run.