overlayroot does not work with Linux 6.5

[Uri Herrera]

I use the package overlayroot on a custom ISO to provide an immutable root directory upon installation. I use the package from Ubuntu, overlayroot version 0.47ubuntu1. However, I've had a problem with overlayroot.

Recently, overlayroot stopped working when I started using any version of the Linux kernel newer than 6.4.15.

Once the installed system boots, the boot process halts with multiple messages reading: Read-only filesystem. This indicates that there's a problem with the overlay.

However, the initramfs script in init-bottom that the package adds creates the directories for the overlay and modifies the fstab file successfully.

So, I'm not sure what is causing this problem.

[Uri Herrera (uriherrera)]

Today, I found that one of the things that the initramfs script does is to add and check for a kernel parameter, specifically that "ro" is present; this check is used various times throughout the script. However, it turns out that the overlay didn't seem to work anymore due to the presence of this parameter, as removing it "fixed" the issue, and the installed system successfully boots to the desktop.

I've tested that the overlay works by creating a file on the root without using overlayroot-chroot and rebooting; the file was not present, but the overlay works regardless of the presence of the parameter.

[Athos Ribeiro (athos-ribeiro)]

Hi Uri,

Thanks for taking the time to report this bug.

Could you provide more information on how to reproduce the issue?

For instance, what series of Ubuntu are you on? How are you installing the packages? Are you using a custom kernel or the one shipped with your Ubuntu series?

I am marking this bug as incomplete so we can gather more information (and hopefully a reproducer) from you. Please, set this bug status back to new once you provide the requested information.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for cloud-initramfs-tools (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]