sdFormatLinux-Gui

A minimal Linux GUI for sdFormatLinux. Formats SD cards as FAT32 with an optional volume label.

Features

• Lists disks with path, model, bus and size; the disk your system runs from is shown but can't be picked
• Asks you to confirm before erasing, naming the drive and its size
• Optional volume label (up to 11 characters, uppercased)
• Streams formatter output in real time
• Authenticates via pkexec once per session — root shell is reused for subsequent formats
• Always passes -f (force FAT32)
• Checks GitHub releases for a newer version at most once a day and shows a link when one is out (never updates itself). Set SDFORMAT_GUI_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 to turn this off

Requirements

• sdFormatLinux — bundled privately in the .deb/.rpm; source builds need it in $PATH
• pkexec (polkit)
• X11 or Wayland

Install

Download the .deb or .rpm from the releases page and install:

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo dpkg -i sdformatlinux-gui_*.deb

# Fedora / RHEL
sudo rpm -i sdformatlinux-gui-*.rpm

Build from source

# System dependencies (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo apt-get install libgl-dev libx11-dev libxcb1-dev libxcb-render0-dev \
  libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev pkg-config

cargo build --release
./target/release/sdformatlinux-gui

Source builds do not include sdFormatLinux — build it from the upstream repo (make release) and put it in your $PATH.

Third-party software

The .deb and .rpm packages include sdFormatLinux v0.2.0, built from source at the upstream release commit and installed privately at /usr/libexec/sdformatlinux-gui/sdFormatLinux (not on $PATH). The app uses this copy when present and falls back to sdFormatLinux in $PATH otherwise. sdFormatLinux is Copyright (c) 2023 profi200 and distributed under the MIT License. Its licence text is installed at:

• /usr/share/doc/sdformatlinux-gui/sdFormatLinux-LICENSE.txt (Debian / Ubuntu)
• /usr/share/licenses/sdformatlinux-gui/sdFormatLinux-LICENSE.txt (Fedora / RHEL)

Usage

1. Select device from the dropdown (refresh with ↺)
2. Optionally enter a volume label
3. Click Format /dev/… · size, then Erase and format to confirm (Esc cancels) — pkexec prompts for your password once
4. Output streams into the log area; a banner shows whether it worked

Subsequent formats in the same session reuse the root shell — no further password prompts.