Fedora bootc partially boots on Raspberry Pi 5 via community UEFI firmware

Yashwanth Rathakrishnan documented experiments running Fedora 42 bootc on a Raspberry Pi 5. Using the community worproject/rpi5-uefi firmware and bootc-image-builder, he achieved a boot to the login prompt with working USB ports. However, the stock Fedora kernel cannot detect the Pi 5's Ethernet chip (on the separate RP1 I/O controller), Wi-Fi, or most other hardware because UEFI mode provides no device tree description to the kernel. The author suggests a Pi 5-specific kernel, U-boot with device tree support, or a newer Fedora base image as possible paths forward.

What works and what blocks full support

• Working: Boot to login prompt, password authentication, USB ports, minimal RAM footprint (~184 MB idle on 8 GB system)
• Not working: Ethernet (RP1 chip not seen), Wi-Fi, most non-USB hardware
• Root cause: UEFI mode lacks device tree description; stock Fedora kernel has no Pi 5-specific device tree or RP1 driver support
• Build method: bootc-image-builder on the Pi 5 itself to produce ARM64 disk.raw, flashed with dd, plus community rpi5-uefi firmware copied to EFI partition
• Failed alternative: Device Tree Mode boot halted in initramfs, unable to locate SD card root
• Potential fixes: Pi 5-specific kernel, U-boot with device tree (Fedora's standard ARM path), or newer base image (Fedora 44 reportedly improves Ethernet)

Why it matters

The experiment highlights a gap between Fedora's UEFI-centric bootc deployment model and ARM boards that rely on vendor-specific boot chains and device trees. Success here could extend Fedora's immutable desktop strategy to the popular Pi 5 platform.