# nobodd

nobodd is a confusingly named, but simple TFTP server intended for net-booting Raspberry Pis directly from OS images without having to loop-back mount those images. Even customization of an image for booting on a particular board is handled without loop devices or mounts (making it possible to operate completely unprivileged), via a read/write FAT implementation within the `nobodd-prep` tool.

## Usage

If you have an appropriately customized OS image already placed in a file (`ubuntu.img`), and the serial number of the Pi in question (`1234ABCD`) then serving it as simple as:

    $ sudo nobodd-tftpd --board 1234ABCD,ubuntu.img

This defaults to reading the first partition from the file, and pretends (to TFTP clients) that the contents of the first partition appears under the `1234ABCD/` directory. Hence a TFTP request for `1234ABCD/cmdline.txt` will serve the `cmdline.txt` file from the first partition contained in `ubuntu.img`.

The service either needs to run from root (because the default TFTP port is the privileged port 69), or can be run as a systemd or inetd socket-activated service, in which case the service manager will provide the initial socket and the service can run without any special privileges.

The mapping of Pi serial numbers to OS image files can also be placed in a configuration file under `/etc/nobodd/conf.d`. A tool, `nobodd-prep`, is provided to both customize images for boot and generate basic configuration files for `nobodd-tftpd` and `nbd-server`.

## Useful Links

- Source code on GitHub

- Issues on GitHub

- Documentation on ReadTheDocs

## Contents

- Installation
  - Ubuntu
  - Other platforms
- Tutorial
  - Client side
  - Server side
  - Testing and troubleshooting
- How-to guides
  - How to netboot Ubuntu 22.04
    - On the Pi
    - On the server
    - Preparing the image
  - How to netboot Ubuntu 24.04
    - Pre-requisites
    - Modifications
    - Build
  - How to netboot Ubuntu 26.04
    - Boot assets under current/
  - How to firewall your netboot server
  - How to hack on nobodd
    - Development installation
    - Building the docs
    - Test suite
- Explanations
  - Netboot on the Pi
    - DHCP
    - TFTP
    - Kernel
- Reference
  - Command line
    - nobodd-prep
    - nobodd-tftpd
    - nobodd-sh
  - API reference
    - Disk images
    - FAT filesystem
    - TFTP service
    - Command line applications
    - Support modules
- Changelog
  - Release 0.5 (2026-02-16)
  - Release 0.4 (2024-03-07)
  - Release 0.3 (2024-03-06)
  - Prototype 0.2 (unreleased)
  - Prototype 0.1 (unreleased)
- License

## Indices and tables

- Module Index

- Index