mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

saeedbadrelden2021 · 2025-11-09 06:48:16

Hello,

I'm building a custom Arch Linux ISO using mkarchiso, but the process always fails during the mksquashfs stage.

Here’s the output I get:

Parallel mksquashfs: Using 4 processors
Creating 4.0 filesystem on /home/sma/Desktop/Helwan-Linux-Dev-Cinnamon/work/iso/arch/x86_64/airootfs.sfs, block size 1048576.
[=========/ ] 61614/385709 15%
/usr/bin/mkarchiso: line 184: 33780 Segmentation fault (core dumped) mksquashfs "$@" "${image_path}" -noappend "${airootfs_image_tool_options[@]}" "${mksquashfs_options[@]}"

to troubleshoot, I modified the image tool options in my profiledef.sh to limit compression threads:

sudo pacman -Syu squashfs-tools archiso

airootfs_image_tool_options=('-comp' 'xz' '-Xbcj' 'x86' '-b' '1M' '-Xdict-size' '1M' '-processors' '1')

But the segmentation fault still happens at the same stage.

I already tried:

Cleaning work/ and out/ directories before each build

Updating archiso and squashfs-tools (sudo pacman -Syu)

Running with sufficient disk space (~30GB free)

My system:

Arch Linux x86_64

Kernel: 6.17.7.arch1-1
RAM: 8GB
squashfs-tools version: 4.7.3-1
archiso version: 64-1
Note: I reinstalled the system from scratch before trying this build.

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by saeedbadrelden2021 (2025-11-09 07:29:26)

cybertibi · 2025-11-09 12:33:52

Hello!
I got the same error that caused the program to crash, but I also got an error before that:
-> Running build hook: [memdisk]
-> Running build hook: [archiso]
==> ERROR: file not found: '/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules'
/usr/lib/initcpio/functions: line 1068: /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules: No such file or directory
-> Running build hook: [archiso_loop_mnt]
-> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qed'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla2xxx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'wd719x'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'aic94xx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla1280'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'bfa'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci_renesas'
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating xz-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-linux.img'
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
error: command failed to execute correctly

It seems to be related to the initcpio program:
ERROR: file not found: '/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules'
/usr/lib/initcpio/functions: line 1068: /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules: No such file or directory

I don't know what the solution might be, maybe an update will fix it.

dimich · 2025-11-09 12:47:51

Can you check whether compression libraries used by mksquashfs are up to date?

$ pacman -Q zlib lzo lz4 xz zstd gcc-libs

Can you check whether recent core dump stored in journal?

$ coredumpctl list -n 10 mksquashfs
$ coredumpctl info mksquashfs

cybertibi · 2025-11-09 13:11:13

All programs are up to date.
coredumpctl info mksquashfs last output:

PID: 248740 (mksquashfs)
UID: 0 (root)
GID: 0 (root)
Signal: 11 (SEGV)
Timestamp: Sun 2025-11-09 13:19:16 CET (42min ago)
Command Line: mksquashfs /home/tibi/archlive/archiso/work/x86_64/airootfs /home/tibi/archlive/archiso/work/iso/answeros/x86_64/airootfs.sfs -noappend -comp xz -Xbcj x86 -b 1M -Xdict-size 1M
Executable: /usr/bin/mksquashfs
Control Group: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/session-2.scope
Unit: session-2.scope
Slice: user-1000.slice
Session: 2
Owner UID: 1000 (tibi)
Boot ID: 11a2595b6015445da526332b9860a9fe
Machine ID: 07ad17a6874348289fa13141e12be34a
Hostname: arch
Storage: none
Message: Process 248740 (mksquashfs) of user 0 terminated abnormally without generating a coredump.

dimich · 2025-11-09 14:26:26

cybertibi wrote:

coredumpctl info mksquashfs last output:
PID: 248740 (mksquashfs)
UID: 0 (root)
GID: 0 (root)
Signal: 11 (SEGV)
...
Message: Process 248740 (mksquashfs) of user 0 terminated abnormally without generating a coredump.

Is the issue reproducible when you run just mksquashfs with the same parameters from command line as non-root user? If it is, let it dump core and run

$ coredumpctl debug mksquashfs

This should start gdb. In gdb prompt run "backtrace" and show output.

Last edited by dimich (2025-11-09 14:26:51)

seth · 2025-11-09 15:30:25

Message: Process 248740 (mksquashfs) of user 0 terminated abnormally without generating a coredump.

Did you disable coredumps?
If you don't want to enable them and can reproduce this interactively you could try to run "gdb mksquashfs"

@cybertibi

/usr/lib/initcpio/functions: line 1068: /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules: No such file or directory

https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … 0c473418f8

What looks for that?

cybertibi · 2025-11-09 16:17:50

After running archiso hook:

-> Running build hook: [archiso]
==> ERROR: file not found: '/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules'
/usr/lib/initcpio/functions: line 1068: /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules: No such file or directory

qinohe · 2025-11-09 16:57:42

seth wrote:

What looks for that?

At least I think nothing should, this was merged 10 months ago

https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … quests/416

seth · 2025-11-09 16:59:52

pacman -Qikk mkinitcpio
cat /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

plougher · 2025-11-10 05:52:35

Sorry everyone, but there is a bug in the latest Mksquashfs 4.7.3 (released 5th Nov). I have made a new 4.7.4 release and it should be picked up soon.

seth · 2025-11-10 13:20:44

@cybertibi, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=310116

cybertibi · 2025-11-11 08:52:11

This error is still present:
-> Running build hook: [archiso]
==> ERROR: file not found: '/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules'
/usr/lib/initcpio/functions: line 1068: /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules: No such file or directory

The contents of this file: /usr/lib/initcpio/install/archiso

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later

build() {
add_module "cdrom"
add_module "loop"
add_module "dm-snapshot"
add_module "overlay"

add_runscript

add_binary blockdev
add_binary dmsetup
add_binary losetup
add_binary openssl
add_binary lsblk

if command -v pv >/dev/null 2>&1; then
add_binary pv
else
warning 'pv not found; falling back to cp for copy to RAM'
fi

add_udev_rule 60-cdrom_id.rules
add_udev_rule 10-dm.rules
add_udev_rule 95-dm-notify.rules
add_udev_rule /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules

if [[ -v ARCHISO_GNUPG_FD ]]; then
add_binary gpg
add_dir '/gpg' 0700
gpg --homedir "$BUILDROOT/gpg" --import <&"$ARCHISO_GNUPG_FD"
fi
if [[ -v ARCHISO_TLS_FD ]]; then
cat <&"$ARCHISO_TLS_FD" | add_file - '/codesign.crt' 644
fi
if [[ -v ARCHISO_TLSCA_FD ]]; then
cat <&"$ARCHISO_TLSCA_FD" | add_file - '/codesign_CA.crt' 644
fi
}

This line, which causes an error, is still there:
add_udev_rule /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules

seth · 2025-11-11 08:57:29

seth wrote:

@cybertibi, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=310116

csmnn · 2025-11-11 09:35:26

cybertibi wrote:

This line, which causes an error, is still there:
add_udev_rule /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules

That file is owned by the package mkinitcpio-archiso.

I created an issue for it: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … /issues/20

saeedbadrelden2021 · 2025-11-12 06:50:23

plougher wrote:

Sorry everyone, but there is a bug in the latest Mksquashfs 4.7.3 (released 5th Nov). I have made a new 4.7.4 release and it should be picked up soon.

Thanks a lot — you’re the only one who really cared about my issue.
I’ve already installed squashfs-tools 4.7.4-1 yesterday, but unfortunately I’m still getting this error:

Creating 4.0 filesystem on /home/sma/Desktop/Helwan-Linux-Dev-Cinnamon/work/iso/arch/x86_64/airootfs.sfs, block size 1048576.
[================================================| ] 302599/385596 78%
FATAL ERROR: xz uncompress failed with error code 9

seth · 2025-11-12 08:20:03

That's a completely different error now - xz cannot decompress a file.

EBADF 9 Bad file descriptor

Run "mkarchiso -v" and in doubt trace mkarchiso (set -x) to see what command fails if the verbose mode isn't verbose enough.

cybertibi · Yesterday 08:32:47

csmnn wrote:

cybertibi wrote:
This line, which causes an error, is still there:
add_udev_rule /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules
That file is owned by the package mkinitcpio-archiso.
I created an issue for it: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … /issues/20

I replaced the old archiso file with the new fixed version, but the error persists:

-> Running build hook: [memdisk]
-> Running build hook: [archiso]
==> ERROR: file not found: '/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules'
/usr/lib/initcpio/functions: line 1068: /usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules: No such file or directory
-> Running build hook: [archiso_loop_mnt]
-> Running build hook: [block]
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qed'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla2xxx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'wd719x'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'aic94xx'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'qla1280'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'bfa'
==> WARNING: Possibly missing firmware for module: 'xhci_pci_renesas'
-> Running build hook: [filesystems]
-> Running build hook: [keyboard]
==> Generating module dependencies
==> Creating xz-compressed initcpio image: '/boot/initramfs-linux.img'
==> WARNING: errors were encountered during the build. The image may not be complete.
error: command failed to execute correctly

seth · Yesterday 08:42:24

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/an … o-archiso/ and not been updated since january?
What exactly did you do?

cybertibi · Yesterday 10:43:43

seth wrote:

https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/an … o-archiso/ and not been updated since january?
What exactly did you do?

I deleted the contents of the old file /usr/lib/initcpio/install/archiso, and copied the contents of the new, corrected file into its place!
The error still appears when I run the mkarchiso command.

Update:
I realized that when mkarchiso runs, it uses the mkinitcpio-archiso package included in the packages.x86_64 file, so fixing the file contents in the local system was pointless!

Last edited by cybertibi (Yesterday 10:56:13)

qinohe · Yesterday 11:57:08

The gitlab repo is already updated
Install mkinitcpio-archiso-git from AUR to install 'mkinitcpio-archiso' without '11-dm-initramfs.rules'

cybertibi · Yesterday 16:06:09

qinohe wrote:

The gitlab repo is already updated
Install mkinitcpio-archiso-git from AUR to install 'mkinitcpio-archiso' without '11-dm-initramfs.rules'

Thanks for your help, everyone! It seems that installing the mkinitcpio-archiso-git package has fixed the other error as well!

cakeslice · Today 22:05:09

Hi All, I've just come across this thread while trying to follow Busybox based initramfs (built with mkinitcpio) .

When I regenerate the initramfs with

# mkinitcpio -p linux

I get the same error:

==> ERROR: file not found: '/usr/lib/initcpio/udev/11-dm-initramfs.rules'

The issue seems to be related to changing the "encrypt" hook to "encryptssh" - reverting that removes the error.

In my case installing mkinitcpio-archiso-git didn't seem to do anything. Is there something I'm missing?

Last edited by cakeslice (Today 22:05:43)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-11-09 06:48:16

mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#2 2025-11-09 12:33:52

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#3 2025-11-09 12:47:51

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#4 2025-11-09 13:11:13

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#5 2025-11-09 14:26:26

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#6 2025-11-09 15:30:25

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#7 2025-11-09 16:17:50

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#8 2025-11-09 16:57:42

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#9 2025-11-09 16:59:52

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#10 2025-11-10 05:52:35

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#11 2025-11-10 13:20:44

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#12 2025-11-11 08:52:11

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#13 2025-11-11 08:57:29

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#14 2025-11-11 09:35:26

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#15 2025-11-12 06:50:23

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#16 2025-11-12 08:20:03

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#17 Yesterday 08:32:47

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#18 Yesterday 08:42:24

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#19 Yesterday 10:43:43

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#20 Yesterday 11:57:08

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#21 Yesterday 16:06:09

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

#22 Today 22:05:09

Re: mkarchiso segmentation fault during mksquashfs stage

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