Bug 2391379 - Minimal disk image boots to systemd-firstboot, not initial-setup as intended
Summary: Minimal disk image boots to systemd-firstboot, not initial-setup as intended
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: image-builder
Version: rawhide
Hardware: aarch64
OS: Linux
urgent
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Simon de Vlieger
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard: AcceptedBlocker
Depends On:
Blocks: F43BetaBlocker
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2025-08-27 21:44 UTC by Adam Williamson
Modified: 2025-09-06 02:38 UTC (History)
13 users (show)

Fixed In Version: image-builder-33-1.fc43
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2025-08-30 18:13:58 UTC
Type: Bug
Embargoed:


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System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Github osbuild osbuild issues 2177 0 None closed Fedora 43 and Rawhide minimal disk images boot to systemd-firstboot, initial-setup does not run 2025-08-28 16:25:39 UTC

Description Adam Williamson 2025-08-27 21:44:04 UTC
Fedora disk images are intended (currently) to boot to the initial-setup utility, but in testing, the minimal disk image is booting to systemd-firstboot instead. If you forcibly disable systemd-firstboot, initial-setup still does not run.

We are also tracking this at https://github.com/osbuild/osbuild/issues/2177 since it seems to be osbuild-specific - it's not affecting other disk images, which are built by Kiwi. There are many more details about what's going on there. But I'm filing this so we can propose it as an F43 blocker. Proposing as a Beta blocker per Basic criterion "A working mechanism to create a user account must be clearly presented during installation and/or first boot of the installed system" - systemd-firstboot does not allow creation of a user account, only setting the root password.

Comment 1 Simon de Vlieger 2025-08-27 22:24:43 UTC
Taking over this bug; I'll PR things to disable marking this image as being in firstboot so systemd doesn't reset /etc.

Comment 2 Simon de Vlieger 2025-08-28 07:49:18 UTC
To also have the information here: the ARM minimal images are (currently) built in a way that meets the preconditions for 'firstboot' behavior in systemd. This means that systemd will do a 'factory reset' (run preset-all --force) on first boot.

Because ARM minimal images use mount units, they also have an early 'rw' sysroot. This combination means that a large chunk of /etc is being reset to presets. The presets do not include initial-setup.

I have created an upstream PR at: https://github.com/osbuild/images/pull/1799 that disables the precondition for 'firstboot' behavior. This makes the image behave as expected again; /etc is not overwritten and thus initial-setup starts, systemd-firstboot does not (because it is based on the same precondition).

Comment 3 Peter Robinson 2025-08-28 12:08:10 UTC
Also note as part of the same issue we lost linux-firmware and grubby which causes network issues on some HW and means we can't update the kernel (it installs fine, but isn't set as default).

Comment 4 Simon de Vlieger 2025-08-28 12:48:23 UTC
Thanks Peter, I'll make sure the packages are included as part of the same update.

Comment 5 Fedora Update System 2025-08-28 15:39:49 UTC
FEDORA-2025-f8b43b5de3 (image-builder-33-1.fc43) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 43.
https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-f8b43b5de3

Comment 6 Fedora Update System 2025-08-28 15:40:16 UTC
FEDORA-2025-30b4f2bc9f (image-builder-33-1.fc41) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 41.
https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-30b4f2bc9f

Comment 7 Fedora Update System 2025-08-28 15:40:38 UTC
FEDORA-2025-06c0d6aa7d (image-builder-33-1.fc42) has been submitted as an update to Fedora 42.
https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-06c0d6aa7d

Comment 8 Simon de Vlieger 2025-08-28 15:47:10 UTC
I've submitted updates to all active branches for this. The update includes both the fix for systemd-firstboot/initial-setup and the additional requested packages.

To test this you can install the relevant build from bodhi and then build an image for Fedora 43:

```
sudo image-builder build --distro fedora-43 minimal-raw-xz
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER fedora-43-minimal-raw-xz-x86_64/
unxz fedora-43-minimal-raw-xz/fedora-43-minimal-raw-zst-x86_64.raw.xz
```

Then use your favorite virtualisation tool on the disk image. Confirm that you end up in `initial-setup` instead of `systemd-firstboot` and that you can configure the system, and then login.

Comment 9 Simon de Vlieger 2025-08-28 15:52:04 UTC
Sorry, typo in the above snippet; the last line should read:

```
unxz fedora-43-minimal-raw-xz/fedora-43-minimal-raw-xz-x86_64.raw.xz
```

Comment 10 Adam Williamson 2025-08-28 16:58:36 UTC
+4 in https://pagure.io/fedora-qa/blocker-review/issue/1887 , marking accepted blocker.

Comment 11 Peter Robinson 2025-08-28 19:44:36 UTC
Confirmed that it runs a initial-setup and looks fine.

Comment 12 Fedora Update System 2025-08-29 01:20:59 UTC
FEDORA-2025-30b4f2bc9f has been pushed to the Fedora 41 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2025-30b4f2bc9f`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-30b4f2bc9f

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

Comment 13 Fedora Update System 2025-08-29 02:06:41 UTC
FEDORA-2025-f8b43b5de3 has been pushed to the Fedora 43 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2025-f8b43b5de3`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-f8b43b5de3

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

Comment 14 Fedora Update System 2025-08-29 02:28:16 UTC
FEDORA-2025-06c0d6aa7d has been pushed to the Fedora 42 testing repository.
Soon you'll be able to install the update with the following command:
`sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh --advisory=FEDORA-2025-06c0d6aa7d`
You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2025-06c0d6aa7d

See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.

Comment 15 Fedora Update System 2025-08-30 18:13:58 UTC
FEDORA-2025-f8b43b5de3 (image-builder-33-1.fc43) has been pushed to the Fedora 43 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.

Comment 16 Peter Robinson 2025-08-31 08:33:11 UTC
This fix also needs to be deployed to infra to complete the fix.

Comment 17 Simon de Vlieger 2025-08-31 10:03:47 UTC
I believe the relevant tags inherit from the compose tag so the update should appear in the buildroot automatically, like it already did for rawhide.

Comment 18 Peter Robinson 2025-08-31 10:50:59 UTC
(In reply to Simon de Vlieger from comment #17)
> I believe the relevant tags inherit from the compose tag so the update
> should appear in the buildroot automatically, like it already did for
> rawhide.

Cool, wasn't sure if it was deployed in a buildroot or had to be deployed to infra explicitly, thanks for the confirmation.

Comment 19 Fedora Update System 2025-09-06 02:12:59 UTC
FEDORA-2025-06c0d6aa7d (image-builder-33-1.fc42) has been pushed to the Fedora 42 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.

Comment 20 Fedora Update System 2025-09-06 02:38:04 UTC
FEDORA-2025-30b4f2bc9f (image-builder-33-1.fc41) has been pushed to the Fedora 41 stable repository.
If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.


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