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Frostyard docs

Bitwarden

The Bitwarden extension adds the Bitwarden desktop password manager to a Frostyard desktop image. Use it when you want the Bitwarden app on a desktop image. Every image carries the extension’s definition, switched off. The extension itself is not in the image: Updex turns it on and downloads it.

Before you start

Section titled “Before you start”

You need:

  • A Frostyard desktop bootc image: Snow, Snowfield, or Sundog, not Floe.
  • Root access to enable, update, and remove the extension.
  • Network access to https://repository.frostyard.org/ext/bitwarden/.
  • Free space in /var for the download and the installed image.

The Bitwarden extension has no published test results on Frostyard images yet. Try it on a machine you can spare first.

Enable Bitwarden

Section titled “Enable Bitwarden”

See what Updex found, then enable the feature and download it now:

Terminal window
updex features list --component=bitwarden
sudo updex features enable bitwarden --now

bitwarden appears as a component, with its feature disabled. The enable command downloads the image, checks its checksum and signature, links it, and refreshes the merge.

Check the merge and the files that the extension adds:

Terminal window
systemd-sysext status
command -v bitwarden
ls /usr/share/applications/bitwarden.desktop

systemd-sysext status lists bitwarden. command -v prints a path, and ls prints the launcher file.

If enable --now exits with a refresh error (refresh_error in JSON), the download worked, but the activation did not. If the output says activation did not finish, the extension is merged, but users and groups can be missing: reboot. Otherwise the merge state is unknown: reboot. A sudo systemd-sysext refresh by hand does not create users and groups. Then run the checks above again.

Use Bitwarden

Section titled “Use Bitwarden”

Start Bitwarden from your applications, or run bitwarden. The extension ships no service and adds nothing to /etc.

Update, roll back, and remove

Section titled “Update, roll back, and remove”

See whether a newer image exists, then update:

Terminal window
updex features check --component=bitwarden
sudo updex features update --component=bitwarden

The update downloads the newest image and links it. A refresh replaces /usr under a running app, and a running app can fail. Close Bitwarden before you run updex features update, or update with --no-refresh and reboot. See Manage system extensions for the check output and the update timer.

Roll back with sudo updex features rollback bitwarden. It takes effect at the next boot. See Roll back.

Remove Bitwarden now:

Terminal window
sudo updex features disable bitwarden --now --force

Updex unmerges all extensions on the host, deletes the Bitwarden image, and merges the rest again. Your Bitwarden data stays in your home directory. Reboot when the command finishes. Without --force, Updex refuses while the image is merged.

What ships

Section titled “What ships”
Item What you get
Package requests The Bitwarden .deb (a pinned download), plus libnotify4, libnss3, libxss1, and libxtst6
Version The image file name carries the bitwarden version, plus a +rN snosi revision when one is set
Command and launcher /usr/bin/bitwarden and /usr/share/applications/bitwarden.desktop; the app lives in /usr/lib/Bitwarden
Services None
Image file bitwarden_<version>_<os>_<arch>.raw.zst; .raw.xz, .raw.gz, and .raw also work
Download From https://repository.frostyard.org/ext/bitwarden/, signature required (Verify=true), into /var/lib/extensions.d/

Each build checks that these paths are present: the Bitwarden binary, the sandbox helper, the /usr/bin/bitwarden link, the launcher, and the icon. A build that is missing one fails.

See also

Section titled “See also”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”

Reviewed 2026-10-27; Updex facts reviewed 2026-10-30. snosi commit b2858ca0222814c395cf8248db98f3e096d57dc9; Updex v2.1.3 commit 2661e987faac986f2594d1d9bbbadf1bf3053f5b.