Updates and upgrades

Zainium OS has no version numbers. You install it once and keep it current:

elevate zex update

This refreshes the package indexes, updates the software you installed, and stages a new base if one is available.

How a base upgrade works

1. zex downloads the new base packages and verifies them.
2. They are staged in /overlayer/.syshub-pending, which only zex running as root can write and which is protected while it waits.
3. At the next boot, quantra-ramfs applies the staged upgrade to /overlayer/syshub — before the system view is mounted and before anything uses the base.

The running system never sees a half-upgraded base. Every step is journaled: if the upgrade fails or the power is cut, quantra-ramfs undoes it at the next boot, and if it cannot, the boot stops instead of starting on a half-applied base.

The kernel

The kernel is part of the rolling release too:

elevate zex kernel        # what boots now, and what is new
elevate zex kernel --u    # install the newest kernel, quantra-ramfs and boot loader

elevate zex syshub --u checks for a newer kernel too, after the base, and asks once: yes upgrades the kernel and its modules together, no leaves both as they are.

The new kernel goes onto the EFI partition, and the one that was running stays as the fallback entry in the boot menu, so a kernel that does not work is one menu choice away. Its modules (linux-kernel-modules) are staged into the base like a base upgrade, and the matching headers (linux-headers) are a userland package. All three are built from the same source at the same time. elevate zex kernel --rollback boots the previous kernel by default again.

The boot loader comes the same way: zex kernel --u puts a newer Limine (limine-boot) on the EFI partition. Its BIOS part has to match the limine tool in the base, so when that tool arrives with a base upgrade, the BIOS part follows on the next zex kernel --u after the reboot; UEFI is updated at once.

Rolling back

The last applied base upgrade can be undone at the next boot. Userland transactions can be listed and undone with zex:

zex rollback --list
elevate zex rollback <tx_id>

The live ISO

In the live session the base is a read-only image and cannot be upgraded. ISO snapshots are rebuilt regularly and named after their date; an installed system does not need a new ISO to stay current.