[SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

severij · 2017-06-21 17:26:48

Hi everyone!

I was trying to update the kernel with pacman, and I got the following error messages, which I don't quite understand:

macbook-air% sudo pacman -S linux linux-headers
[sudo] password for severij: 
warning: linux-4.11.6-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (2) linux-4.11.6-1  linux-headers-4.11.6-1

Total Installed Size:  118.50 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       38.00 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
(2/2) checking keys in keyring                                                                             [################################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking package integrity                                                                           [################################################################] 100%
(2/2) loading package files                                                                                [################################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking for file conflicts                                                                          [################################################################] 100%
(2/2) checking available disk space                                                                        [################################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
error: cannot remove file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux': Read-only file system
(1/2) reinstalling linux                                                                                   [################################################################] 100%
warning: warning given when extracting /boot/vmlinuz-linux (Could not unlink)
>>> Updating module dependencies. Please wait ...
(2/2) installing linux-headers                                                                             [################################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/2) Updating linux initcpios
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'default'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> ERROR: Unable to write to /boot/initramfs-linux.img
==> Building image from preset: /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset: 'fallback'
  -> -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img -S autodetect
==> ERROR: Unable to write to /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
error: command failed to execute correctly
(2/2) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...

The current version of the kernel is 4.10.13-1-ARCH. I'm not sure what causes this.

Last edited by severij (2017-06-22 14:22:20)

WorMzy · 2017-06-21 17:37:23

Your boot partition is read-only. Why?

severij · 2017-06-21 21:25:35

WorMzy wrote:

Your boot partition is read-only. Why?

I don't know if this is the case. Kernel updates have worked number of times in the past, and "ls -l /" shows that the boot partition should be readable and writable by the root. Also in the "/etc/fstab" file the boot partition has the "rw" option:

13 #                                                                                                     
 12 # /etc/fstab: static file system information                                                          
 11 #                                                                                                     
 10 # <file system> <dir>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>                                        
  9 # /dev/sda2                                                                                           
  8 UUID=11feee79-d064-49fa-9728-ab87fa4e55f6       /               ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 1
  7                                                                                                       
  6 # /dev/sda1 LABEL=Linux\134x20HFS+\134x20ESP                                                          
  5 UUID=6a957c86-0bf7-3dac-b9c0-541370d79e2f       /boot           hfsplus         rw,relatime,umask=22,uid=0,gid=0,nls=utf8       0 0
  4                                                                                                       
  3 # /dev/sda4                                                                                           
  2 UUID=5c7e690d-58a2-4308-af74-63821a04b984       /home           ext4            rw,relatime,data=ordered        0 2
  1                                                                                                       
  0 # /dev/sda3                                                                                                                                                                   
  1 UUID=13619a4f-e6a9-431a-a7d9-e810c2aeecd2       none            swap            defaults        0 0

WorMzy · 2017-06-21 22:06:29

I don't know if this is the case.

Your system is reporting that it is. Check 'mount' and 'dmesg'.

ignormies · 2017-06-22 01:49:31

"ls -l /" might show that /boot is writable, but are the files and directories inside of it read only? What does "ls -l /boot" give?

Docbroke · 2017-06-22 02:44:49

severij wrote:

...
warning: linux-4.11.6-1 is up to date -- reinstalling
...
error: cannot remove file '/boot/vmlinuz-linux': Read-only file system
(1/2) reinstalling linux [################################################################] 100%
....
warning: warning given when extracting /boot/vmlinuz-linux (Could not unlink)

I guess partial upgrade has been done on this system. You are having new linux kernel installed but loading old one from /boot, so vfat module is not loading.
Suggestion: boot from live cd, mount /boot partition at proper place and run the complete update.

severij · 2017-06-22 09:30:35

WorMzy wrote:

Your system is reporting that it is. Check 'mount' and 'dmesg'.

Oh, I think you're absolutely right! The boot partition seems to be read-only. Here is the output of 'mount':

macbook-air% mount
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
dev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=1990752k,nr_inodes=497688,mode=755)
run on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mode=755)
efivarfs on /sys/firmware/efi/efivars type efivarfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
/dev/sda2 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=755)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,xattr,release_agent=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd-cgroups-agent,name=systemd)
pstore on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpu,cpuacct)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/blkio type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,blkio)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/memory type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,memory)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpuset)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/net_cls type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,net_cls)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/devices type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,devices)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/pids type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,pids)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/perf_event type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,perf_event)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/freezer type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,freezer)
systemd-1 on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type autofs (rw,relatime,fd=32,pgrp=1,timeout=0,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct)
mqueue on /dev/mqueue type mqueue (rw,relatime)
hugetlbfs on /dev/hugepages type hugetlbfs (rw,relatime)
configfs on /sys/kernel/config type configfs (rw,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type hfsplus (ro,relatime,umask=22,uid=0,gid=0,nls=utf8)
/dev/sda4 on /home type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
tmpfs on /run/user/1000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=399028k,mode=700,uid=1000,gid=1000)

Here is the output of dmesg: link.

How I should proceed in order to make it 'rw'? Is using a live usb and remounting the partition the only way to go? Also, it's interesting how I have managed to do kernel updates in the past. Is it possible that the boot partition was originally 'rw' but then somehow turned to 'ro'?

WorMzy · 2017-06-22 09:51:16

You need to run a filesystem check on it:

dmesg wrote:

[    2.390581] hfsplus: Filesystem was not cleanly unmounted, running fsck.hfsplus is recommended.  mounting read-only.

Unfortunately I have no experience with hfsplus on Linux, so I can't advise you how to use it's fsck tool. Check the manpage/the wiki/etc. It may be advisable to use OSX to check the filesystem, if you have it installed.

severij · 2017-06-22 14:21:22

Problem solved! Here's what I did:

First, I downloaded package 'hfsprogs' (I'm not sure if this is nessessary):

 sudo pacman -S hfsprogs

Then, I unmounted the boot partition with command:

sudo umount /boot

Finally, I remounted the partition with the following command:

sudo mount -t hfsplus -o force,rw /dev/sda1 /boot

After this I rebooted and boot partition was 'rw' again. I was then able to update the packages 'linux' and 'linux-headers'.

Thank you WorMzy, and everyone who tried to help.

Last edited by severij (2017-06-25 16:06:54)

MrPiggy105 · 2024-09-27 13:04:58

I had this same issue on my Macbook, installing Arch after having previously installed Fedora which makes the EFI partition hfsplus on macs. I have always had this problem since I installed Arch... I would reboot into the USB, mount the boot partition first and then the root, and arch-chroot into the system and reinstall linux. After installing hfsprogs from YAY (not pacman) and running fsck.hfsplus (as well as macOS's First Aid), they both return no errors, but now it mounts normally..?

ewaller · 2024-09-27 15:48:46

Using this opportunity to close this old thread

Arch Linux

#1 2017-06-21 17:26:48

[SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#2 2017-06-21 17:37:23

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#3 2017-06-21 21:25:35

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#4 2017-06-21 22:06:29

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#5 2017-06-22 01:49:31

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#6 2017-06-22 02:44:49

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#7 2017-06-22 09:30:35

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#8 2017-06-22 09:51:16

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#9 2017-06-22 14:21:22

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#10 2024-09-27 13:04:58

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

#11 2024-09-27 15:48:46

Re: [SOLVED] Errors while trying to update the kernel with pacman

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