Dracut v0.9 - Generated initramfs image boot failure

[MaMiMa81]

Is this a new report?

Yes

System Info

Void 5.10.256_1 x86_64-musl

Package(s) Affected

dracut-109_1

Does a report exist for this bug with the project's home (upstream) and/or another distro?

No response

Expected behaviour

Boot normally from the generated an initramfs image

Actual behaviour

When I boot my device with this image it errors - the console displays that my
root partition is already mounted on my /media partition, which it is
apparently, with my other 2 partitions. Consequently I have to reboot my device
with my last good initramfs image that was generated with Dracut v0.7.

The initramfs image file produced is a lot smaller than when using Dracut v0.7,
infact it is almost the same as if I produced it using the --host-only flag
with Dracut v0.7, about 11-13M.

I have reverted back to the previous version of Dracut, v0.7, and regenerated the
initramfs image for the latest 2 kernels, which were original generated using
latest Dracut, v0.9, & my device boots fine once again using these regenerated
initramfs images.

If I produce an initramfs image with Dracut v0.7 using the --host-only flag
that image too has the same issue as with Dracut v0.9 with no flags & I stated
above it is approximate the same size.

So has the latest Dracut v0.9 been compiled with --host-only flag? If not have
you got an explanation for this occurrence?

Steps to reproduce

1. Have Dracut v0.9 installed
2. Have generated an initramfs image with Dracut v0.9 installed
3. Boot from that initramfs image generated with Dracut v0.9

[classabbyamp]

dracut now defaults to hostonly, it can be disabled in configuration.

it would be worth diffing the hostonly and non-hostonly initramfs file lists with something like:

sudo lsinitrd initramfs-bad.img > badfiles.txt
sudo lsinitrd initramfs-good.img > goodfiles.txt
diff -u goodfiles.txt badfiles.txt

and report that to upstream

[MaMiMa81]

Many thanks for swift response @classabbyamp .

Yes did see that in:

/usr/lib/dracut/dracut.conf.d/hostonly/

10-hostonly.conf

is
hostonly="yes"

while in:

/usr/lib/dracut/dracut.conf.d/generic/

11-generic.conf

is
hostonly="no"

And while I thought I was generating a generic initramfs image I now on reflection assume that the:

10-hostonly.conf

takes precedence over:

11-generic.conf

by virtue of the udev numbering protocol.

I've sorted it by setting:

/etc/dracut.conf.d/hostonly/

10-hostonly.conf

as
hostonly="no"

And updated dracut to v0.9 and all is good again.

it would be worth diffing the hostonly and non-hostonly initramfs file lists with something like:

sudo lsinitrd initramfs-bad.img > badfiles.txt
sudo lsinitrd initramfs-good.img > goodfiles.txt
diff -u goodfiles.txt badfiles.txt

and report that to upstream

Yes had already diffed those 2 files & they looked like a bit of a minefield however looking in my dracut.log this was present when creating the initramfs image with --host-only:

I: Stored kernel commandline: I: resume=UUID=0aa9bc29-92b5-475a-8533-xxxxxxxxxxxx I: root=UUID=251a295d-68e8-4ffe-86a0-xxxxxxxxxxxx rootfstype=ext4 rootflags=rw,relatime,commit=15

While it isn't when creating the initramfs image without --host-only

[jozzsi]

Some people need and prefer hostonly - see #56691 . Many people use dracut in many distros with hostonly. Hostonly mode itself is not a reason for the failure.

When I boot my device with this image it errors

You mean it logs an error and boots or it does not even boot ?

the console displays that my root partition is already mounted on my /media partition

Is this an issue with the root filesystem and not with the generated initramfs ?

Like @classabbyamp mentioned, this is best to discuss upstream dracut not in the void issue tracker.

[MaMiMa81]

Some people need and prefer hostonly - see #56691 . Many people use dracut in many distros with hostonly. Hostonly mode itself is not a reason for the failure.

hostonly is an option - can be set or unset so no issue there, and while I do accept your argument that hostonly mode is used by many people in many other distros, and probably here in Void too, it is pretty obvious that hostonly mode is most probably the reason for the failure in my case as it boots fine with the "full-fat" initramfs image when generated with hostonly mode unset.

When I boot my device with this image it errors

You mean it logs an error and boots or it does not even boot ?

It logs an error and doesn't boot

the console displays that my root partition is already mounted on my /media partition

Is this an issue with the root filesystem and not with the generated initramfs ?

I doubt that it is an error with the root filesystem as it boots fine with the initramfs image generated with hostonly mode unset

Like @classabbyamp mentioned, this is best to discuss upstream dracut not in the void issue tracker.

Yes accept that too but thought it best to start here.