dracut

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grub Advanced Documentation Installation of Debian based Linux distributions in a folder chroot Previous page: grub Index page: Advanced Documentation Next page: Installation of Debian based Linux distributions in a folder chroot dracut

• General Troubleshooting
• Connectivity Troubleshooting
• VirtualBox Troubleshooting
• Recovery
• GRUB
• dracut
• Broken Boot
• Factory Reset
• Download Issues

dracut logo

dracut, an initrd generator

Introduction

Documentation for this is incomplete. Contributions are happily considered! See this for potential alternatives.

Find out which initrd Generator is installed

To check if dracut is already installed, run. On Debian based operating systems such as Kicksecure this can be done using the following commands.

dpkg -l | grep dracut

To check if initramfs-tools is already installed, run.

dpkg -l | grep initramfs-tools

Installation

1. Notices.

Platform specific.

• Debian: The following warning is applicable because dracut is not installed by default in Debian.
• Kicksecure: The following warning is only applicable if dracut is not yet installed. In newer Kicksecure versions, dracut is installed by default.

To check your currently installed initrd generator, see Find out which initrd Generator is installed.

2. Warning.

Warning: There is a risk of the system becoming unbootable due to changes in the initrd creation tool.

• General risk: The system may become unbootable when changing the initrd creation tool.
• Backups: Always maintain backups and proceed with caution when making changes.
• Dracut bug reports: If issues with dracut occur, do not report them here, as they are unrelated to Kicksecure.

3. Create folder /etc/dracut.conf.d.

sudo mkdir --parents /etc/dracut.conf.d

4. Open file /etc/dracut.conf.d/fix.conf in an editor with administrative ("root") rights.

1 Select your platform.

Kicksecure

2 Notes.

• Sudoedit guidance: See Open File with Root Rights for details on why using sudoedit improves security and how to use it.
• Editor requirement: Close Featherpad (or the chosen text editor) before running the sudoedit command.

3 Open the file with root rights.

sudoedit /etc/dracut.conf.d/fix.conf

Kicksecure-Qubes

2 Notes.

• Sudoedit guidance: See Open File with Root Rights for details on why using sudoedit improves security and how to use it.
• Editor requirement: Close Featherpad (or the chosen text editor) before running the sudoedit command.
• Template requirement: When using Kicksecure-Qubes, this must be done inside the Template.

3 Open the file with root rights.

sudoedit /etc/dracut.conf.d/fix.conf

4 Notes.

• Shut down Template: After applying this change, shut down the Template.
• Restart App Qubes: All App Qubes based on the Template need to be restarted if they were already running.
• Qubes persistence: See also Qubes Persistence
• General procedure: This is a general procedure required for Qubes and is unspecific to Kicksecure-Qubes.

Others and Alternatives

2 Notes.

• Example only: This is just an example. Other tools could achieve the same goal.
• Troubleshooting and alternatives: If this example does not work for you, or if you are not using Kicksecure, please refer to Open File with Root Rights.

3 Open the file with root rights.

sudoedit /etc/dracut.conf.d/fix.conf

5. Paste.

hostonly=yes hostonly_mode=sloppy

6. Save.

7. Install dracut and systemd-cryptsetup.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends dracut systemd-cryptsetup

8. Done.

Installation of dracut has been completed.

Re-Generate dracut Initrd

sudo dracut -f

Bugs

• Specific risk: Issues may occur during migration to dracut if full disk encryption is used.
  • Likely issues:
    • Package systemd-cryptsetup is not installed.
    • hostonly=yes configuration option is not used.
  • Workaround: If boot fails: setting the kernel parameter rd.auto might help. (Tested on Debian 12/ bookworm.)
• Note on bug status: Closed bugs do not necessarily mean the issue is resolved in your distribution's APT repository. Fixes may have been reverted upstream, making bug status verification difficult.
• dracut (abandoned)
  • fix(crypt): Encrypted root FS handling with generic initrd #2520 (abandoned pull request for dracut)
  • Generic initrd does not work with encrypted root FS without further configuration
• dracut-ng upstream bug reports and pull requests:
  • With encrypted root + unencrypted boot + systemd, dracut may generate an initrd incapable of decrypting the root disk without showing any warnings or errors #684
  • fix(systemd-crypt): add potentially needed modules to generic initrd #319
  • fix(crypt): unlock encrypted devices by default during boot #320
  • revert(crypt): do not unlock encrypted devices by default during boot #529
• Debian upstream bug reports:
  • unbootable system after installing dracut on a standard Debian installation - #1
  • unbootable system after installing dracut on a standard Debian installation - #2
  • dracut: generic initrd does not work with encrypted root FS without further configuration
  • Unable to boot LUKS-encrypted system
• Forum discussion:
  • https://forums.whonix.org/t/replacing-initramfs-tools-with-dracut/4487/23
• ram-wipe discussion:
  • Kicksecure GitHub ram-wipe repository subpath

grub Advanced Documentation Installation of Debian based Linux distributions in a folder chroot Previous page: grub Index page: Advanced Documentation Next page: Installation of Debian based Linux distributions in a folder chroot

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