Build failures when building on 9pfs

[ch1c0t]

Hi, thanks for your work on this awesome project.

I am trying to make a live system capable of making live systems without any network access.

How would you go about it?

I run Grml as a QEMU guest:

qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -m 2G \
  -enable-kvm \
  -vga virtio \
  -fsdev local,security_model=mapped,id=shared0,path=$HOME/shared/ \
  -device virtio-9p-pci,fsdev=shared0,mount_tag=shared0 \
  -cdrom grml-full-2025.08-amd64.iso

and then, inside of the guest, mount the shared directory with:

mkdir -p /mnt/shared
mount -t 9p -o trans=virtio shared0 /mnt/shared

The intention is to build a custom Grml with Grml and share the resulting ISO image with the host.

For a custom build, how would you change FONTSIZE in /etc/default/console-setup to "12x24"?

I tried to make it with a new minifai class, by adding ~/shared/grml-live/config/files/MINE/etc/default/console-setup on the host, and then running /mnt/shared/build-live-system on the guest:

#!/bin/sh
grml-live -s trixie -a amd64 -c GRML_FULL,MINE -D /mnt/shared/grml-live/config -o /mnt/shared/output

It currently fails because the guest cannot follow symbolic links on the host with security_model=mapped:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting grml-live [0.54.1] run on Tue Sep  9 17:52:01 UTC 2025
Using local config file:
Executed grml-live command line:
/sbin/grml-live -s trixie -a amd64 -c GRML_FULL,MINE -D /mnt/shared/grml-live/config -o /mnt/shared/output
Executed FAI command line:
/sbin/..//lib/grml-live/minifai /mnt/shared/grml-live/config DEBIAN_TRIXIE,GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,MINE,RELEASE,AMD64 dirinstall /mnt/shared/output/grml_chroot /tmp/tmp.KpIWvbxsfa trixie http://deb.debian.org/debian
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 835, in _main
    install_base(conf_dir, chroot_dir, classes, args.debian_suite, args.mirror_url)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 643, in install_base
    keyring_tempfile.write(keyring_file.read_bytes())
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'read_bytes'
I: /sbin/..//lib/grml-live/minifai started with argv=['/sbin/..//lib/grml-live/minifai', '/mnt/shared/grml-live/config', 'DEBIAN_TRIXIE,GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,MINE,RELEASE,AMD64', 'dirinstall', '/mnt/shared/output/grml_chroot', '/tmp/tmp.KpIWvbxsfa', 'trixie', 'http://deb.debian.org/debian']
I: /sbin/..//lib/grml-live/minifai parsed args: Namespace(config=PosixPath('/mnt/shared/grml-live/config'), classes='DEBIAN_TRIXIE,GRMLBASE,GRML_FULL,MINE,RELEASE,AMD64', action='dirinstall', chroot_dir=PosixPath('/mnt/shared/output/grml_chroot'), grml_live_config=PosixPath('/tmp/tmp.KpIWvbxsfa'), debian_suite='trixie', mirror_url='http://deb.debian.org/debian')
I: Using classes: ['DEBIAN_TRIXIE', 'GRMLBASE', 'GRML_FULL', 'MINE', 'RELEASE', 'AMD64']
I: Using conf_dir: /mnt/shared/grml-live/config
I: Using chroot_dir: /mnt/shared/output/grml_chroot
I: Installing Debian base system for suite "trixie" using mmdebstrap
E: 2025-09-09T17:52:01.883811 minifai main caught fatal exception
I: minifai exiting with exit code 2
Error: critical error while executing fai [exit code 2]. Exiting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the guest:

root@grml ~ # cat /mnt/shared/grml-live/config/bootstrap-keyring/DEBIAN_TRIXIE
cat: /mnt/shared/grml-live/config/bootstrap-keyring/DEBIAN_TRIXIE: Too many levels of symbolic links

Have you ever built Grml inside of a QEMU guest? How would you get the resulting ISO image out of it?

I'd love to help with documenting further how to use grml-live. Feel free to book a Google Meet call with me at https://cal.com/anatoly-chernov.

Thanks.

[mika]

Hm initially this sounded to me like it could be related to keyring_file , and the Too many levels of symbolic links also sounds like it's kind of related.

Does it work if you move the /mnt/shared/grml-live/config to a non-9p filesystem (like something inside /root/ or so of the live system)?

Have you ever built Grml inside of a QEMU guest? How would you get the resulting ISO image out of it?

Yes, but not with 9p. If you have network available, you can also e.g. rsync/scp/... the resulting ISO somewhere else, while I like the idea to handle it with 9p or alike! :)

[ch1c0t]

Thank you for responding! :)

Does it work if you move the /mnt/shared/grml-live/config to a non-9p filesystem (like something inside /root/ or so of the live system)?

No, but it fails with a different error message. If I modify the config in /usr/share/grml-live/config(change only one line for a bigger FONTSIZE) and run /mnt/shared/build-live-system

#!/bin/sh
grml-live \
  -s trixie \
  -a amd64 \
  -c GRML_FULL \
  -o /mnt/shared/output

it fails with

Errors were encountered while processing:
 locales
 localepurge
 cloud-init
Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 836, in _main
    rc = _run_tasks(conf_dir, chroot_dir, classes, args.grml_live_config, args.action, [])
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 783, in _run_tasks
    install_packages_for_classes(conf_dir, chroot_dir, classes, helper_tools_paths, hook_env, dynamic_state)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 226, in install_packages_for_classes
    chrooted_apt_install(chroot_dir, install_args)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 121, in chrooted_apt_install
    run_chrooted(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        chroot_dir,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^
    ...<2 lines>...
        stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 96, in run_chrooted
    return run_x(["chroot", chroot_dir, *args], check=check, **kwargs)
  File "/sbin/../lib/grml-live/grml_live/minifai.py", line 87, in run_x
    return subprocess.run(args, check=check, **kwargs)
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 577, in run
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, process.args,
                             output=stdout, stderr=stderr)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['chroot', '/mnt/shared/output/grml_chroot', 'apt', '-oapt::cmd::disable-script-warning=1', 'install', '-q', '-y', '--no-install-recommends', 'grml-live', 'grml-paste', 'grml-quickconfig-standard', 'apt', 'aptitude', 'binfmt-support', 'bsdextrautils', 'bsdutils', 'dctrl-tools', 'devscripts', 'dos2unix', 'findutils', 'htop', 'libnss-myhostname', 'localepurge', 'locales', 'lsb-release', 'lsof', 'mount', 'ntpsec', 'ntpsec-ntpdate', 'nullmailer', 'passwd', 'procps', 'psmisc', 'sysstat', 'sysvinit-utils', 'tree', 'tzdata', 'util-linux', 'util-linux-extra', 'alsa-utils', 'brltty', 'espeak-ng', 'espeakup', 'openvpn', 'ppp', 'pppoeconf', 'array-info', 'cryptsetup', 'disktype', 'dmsetup', 'f3', 'fai-setup-storage', 'fio', 'gdisk', 'iotop', 'lsscsi', 'mpt-status', 'multipath-tools', 'ncdu', 'nocache', 'nvme-cli', 'scsitools', 'sdparm', 'sg3-utils', 'smartmontools', 'stenc', 'boot-info-script', 'gparted', 'kpartx', 'mbr', 'partclone', 'parted', 'nwipe', 'secure-delete', 'wipe', 'ed', 'hexedit', 'nano', 'vim', 'vim-gtk3', 'xxd', 'zile', 'acl', 'attr', 'bcache-tools', 'btrfs-progs', 'dislocker', 'dosfstools', 'e2fsprogs', 'exfat-fuse', 'exfatprogs', 'f2fs-tools', 'jfsutils', 'ntfs-3g', 'tcplay', 'xfsdump', 'xfsprogs', 'xmount', 'xorriso', 'chntpw', 'mtools', 'cpp', 'sqlite3', 'whois', 'debootstrap', 'kexec-tools', 'mmdebstrap', 'rinse', 'libiscsi-bin', 'open-iscsi', 'targetcli-fb', 'tgt', 'aoetools', 'vblade', 'atftp', 'avahi-daemon', 'avahi-utils', 'bind9-dnsutils', 'bind9-host', 'bridge-utils', 'cdpr', 'cifs-utils', 'cloud-init', 'dnsmasq', 'ethstatus', 'ethtool', 'hostapd', 'hping3', 'ifenslave', 'iftop', 'ifupdown', 'ipcalc', 'iperf', 'iperf3', 'ipmitool', 'iproute2', 'iptraf-ng', 'iptstate', 'iputils-arping', 'iputils-ping', 'iputils-tracepath', 'ipxe', 'iw', 'libnss-mdns', 'libteam-utils', 'lrzsz', 'mosh', 'mtr-tiny', 'ndisc6', 'net-tools', 'netbase', 'netcat-openbsd', 'nethogs', 'netsniff-ng', 'nmap', 'openssh-client-ssh1', 'radvd', 'rdnssd', 'rfkill', 'ser2net', 'sipcalc', 'snmp', 'socat', 'speedtest-cli', 'ssmping', 'tcpdump', 'tcptraceroute', 'telnet', 'tmate', 'tsocks', 'usb-modeswitch', 'vlan', 'wireguard', 'wireless-regdb', 'fuse3', 'lftp', 'nfs-kernel-server', 'partimage', 'partimage-server', 'rpcbind', 'samba', 'sshfs', 'udpcast', 'cabextract', 'cpio', 'tar', 'unp', 'unzip', 'zip', 'apg', 'pwgen', 'gnupg', 'scdaemon', 'git', 'afflib-tools', 'autopsy', 'binwalk', 'dcfldd', 'ewf-tools', 'extundelete', 'gddrescue', 'gpart', 'myrescue', 'recoverjpeg', 'testdisk', 'borgbackup', 'clonezilla', 'dirvish', 'dump', 'duplicity', 'fsarchiver', 'mtx', 'restic', 'lz4', 'lzop', 'zstd', 'cu', 'minicom', 'setserial', 'statserial', 'tio', 'bash', 'binutils', 'buffer', 'coreutils', 'diffutils', 'jq', 'mawk', 'mbuffer', 'mc', 'patch', 'pv', 'qrencode', 'screen', 'sed', 'tmux', 'zsh', 'augeas-tools', 'flashrom', 'inxi', 'memtester', 'stressant', 'imvirt', 'open-vm-tools', 'qemu-guest-agent', 'qemu-system-gui', 'qemu-system-x86', 'qemu-utils', 'zerofree', 'curl', 'firefox-esr', 'irssi', 'links2', 'lynx', 'w3m', 'wget', 'fluxbox', 'grml-desktop', 'grml-x', 'x11vnc', 'xauth', 'xcursor-themes', 'xfonts-75dpi', 'xfonts-base', 'xpdf', 'xserver-xorg', 'xserver-xorg-core', 'xserver-xorg-input-all', 'xserver-xorg-video-all', 'xterm', 'acpi', 'irqbalance', 'lm-sensors', 'lshw', 'numactl', 'usbview', 'fwupd', 'polkitd', 'udisks2', 'bats', 'stress', 'man-db', 'lolcat', 'toilet', 'linux-image-amd64', 'linux-cpupower', 'cciss-vol-status', 'cmospwd', 'cpuid', 'memtest86+', 'ltrace', 'grub-pc-bin', 'grml-terminalserver', 'grub-efi-amd64-signed', 'shim-signed', 'fwupd-amd64-signed']' returned non-zero exit status 100.
I: Cleaning up /mnt/shared/output/grml_chroot/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d
E: 2025-09-10T19:00:02.321190 minifai main caught fatal exception
I: minifai exiting with exit code 2
Error: critical error while executing fai [exit code 2]. Exiting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is the full log produced at /mnt/shared/output/grml_logs/grml-live.log.

Thanks.

[zeha]

The first fatal error in that log is:

Setting up locales (2.41-12) ...
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
  en_US.UTF-8...cannot map archive header: Invalid argument
 done
Generation complete.
*** update-locale: Error: invalid locale settings:  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
----------
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
ANSI_X3.4-1968
----------
dpkg: error processing package locales (--configure):
 installed locales package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 255

I imagine this would also be rooted in building on 9pfs. Probably best to avoid that.

[ch1c0t]

rooted in building on 9pfs

Yes. Starting a guest with

% qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -m 6G \
  -enable-kvm \
  -vga virtio \
  -fsdev local,security_model=mapped,id=shared0,path=$HOME/shared/ \
  -device virtio-9p-pci,fsdev=shared0,mount_tag=shared0 \
  -cdrom grml-full-2025.08-amd64.iso

and building in /tmp

#!/bin/sh
grml-live \
  -s trixie \
  -a amd64 \
  -c GRML_SMALL \
  -o /tmp

produces /tmp/grml_isos/grml_0.0.1.iso.

Thank you.

Could you advise on how to build an ISO that can build ISOs like itself without any network access?

[zeha]

Moved this into a discussion.