Issue with dracut 107 and the LTS kernel causing "failed to mount /sysroot"

Important notifications
1

There is currently a known issue with dracut 107 and the LTS kernel. When booting the system and selecting the LTS kernel, you will recieve the error “failed to mount /sysroot”.

You can avoid this issue by booting the fallback initrd or a different kernel.

It only manifests in the following conditions:

  • You have both the LTS kernel and one of the other kernels installed
  • You use both kernels
  • You use a filesystem that is modular in linux-lts but not modular in linux such as ext4

It is worth noting that if you only use the LTS kernel, this issue will not manifest.

There are two ways to work around this issue:

  1. Downgrade to dracut 106.(Recommended)
  2. Add add_drivers+=" ext4 " to a drop in config in /etc/dracut.conf.d

It is probably better to downgrade for now and we are in the process of putting dracut 106 in our repos so users who haven’t upgraded yet will not see this issue.

20 Likes
2

To downgrade dracut to version 106 type in Terminal:

sudo downgrade dracut

or

sudo downgrade 'dracut 106-1'

Select the 106er-Version from local cache (or online) and go.–

5 Likes
3

Thank you, but, How I can update back to 107 once this is solved?

2 Likes
4

Once released your package manager will update it based on the defined priorities. Just keep updating as usual.

4 Likes
5

if i run yay, i get this
[

jp@jp14 ~]$ yay
[sudo] password for jp: 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros is up to date
 core is up to date
 extra                                                           7.8 MiB  3.44 MiB/s 00:02 [----------------------------------------------------] 100%
 multilib is up to date
:: Searching AUR for updates...
:: Searching databases for updates...
 -> dracut: local (107-1) is newer than endeavouros (106-1)
:: 4 packages to upgrade/install.
4  core/grub                  2:2.12.r283.ga4da71da-1 -> 2:2.12.r292.g73d1c959-1
3  extra/intel-ucode          20250211-1              -> 20250512-1
2  extra/libstemmer           2.2.0-2                 -> 2.2.0-3
1  extra/python-cryptography  44.0.2-1                -> 44.0.3-1
==> Packages to exclude: (eg: "1 2 3", "1-3", "^4" or repo name)
 -> Excluding packages may cause partial upgrades and break systems
==> 
Sync Dependency (2): libstemmer-2.2.0-3, python-cryptography-44.0.3-1
Sync Explicit (2): grub-2:2.12.r292.g73d1c959-1, intel-ucode-20250512-1
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 endeavouros is up to date
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
 multilib is up to date
error: failed retrieving file 'endeavouros.db' from mirror.moson.org : Connection timed out after 10021 milliseconds
:: Starting full system upgrade...
warning: dracut: local (107-1) is newer than endeavouros (106-1)
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Package (4)                Old Version              New Version              Net Change  Download Size

core/grub                  2:2.12.r283.ga4da71da-1  2:2.12.r292.g73d1c959-1    0.03 MiB       7.05 MiB
extra/intel-ucode          20250211-1               20250512-1                 6.43 MiB      10.41 MiB
extra/libstemmer           2.2.0-2                  2.2.0-3                   -0.23 MiB       0.12 MiB
extra/python-cryptography  44.0.2-1                 44.0.3-1                  -0.06 MiB       1.13 MiB

Total Download Size:   18.71 MiB
Total Installed Size:  68.34 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       6.18 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n]

note dracut: local (107-1) is newer than endeavouros (106-1)

is it safe to continue?
i’m on the rolling release.

6

Yes.

If you are running both LTS and another kernel you should run yay -Syuu instead which will downgrade dracut.

If you are only running one kernel, you can ignore that warning for now.

1 Like
7

Of course the irony is that I only had the regular linux kernel installed and use it exclusively, and only just installed the LTS kernel to be safe very recently, still haven’t ever booted into it, to have a backup just in case of any issues with linux, only to be faced with this announcement. I downgraded dracut just to be safe and compliant with the current repos as I continue to boot into just regular linux

1 Like
8

I accidentally downgraded to 106, but I’m not using the LTS kernel. How can I upgrade back to 107?

9

You don’t really need to upgrade again.

10

I know, but how can I do it if I want to?

11 
sudo pacman -S extra/dracut
2 Likes
12

The real question for me is: Why are linux and linux-lts different in their modules? It doesn’t make sense to have ext4 as a module vs baked-in in them. Why don’t settle on one procedure? Or is the one for the lts kernel supposed to be more stable?

13

If I boot using the normal (non-LTS) kernel, and
do not boot into the LTS kernel and
I update my system,

then my system will work fine?

14

I am not sure there is any real reason for it. The LTS kernel has a different maintainer and the configs are not kept in sync.

15

It will work fine unless you try to boot into the LTS kernel. As soon as you try to use the LTS kernel, it will fail.

2 Likes
16

This is most likely the only reason. But this dracut issue shows that a common strategy with the two kernels wouldn’t be a bad idea.

2 Likes
17

Yeah so add a 3rd Kernel like Zen and you are good! :laughing:

The more contingency plans you have the more protected you are! :+1:

18

I’m using Zen-Kernel. LTS-Kernel is my backup-kernel.

Because dracut was already updated to version 107 on my system, I just downgraded back to 106.

Otherwise, it would be stupid for me to have a backup-kernel and wouldn’t be able to boot it. :wink:

Thanks guys! :heart:

4 Likes
19

Does this impact if we are using LTS and Hardened Kernel OR if we are using LTS and mainline kernel?

20

You’re using the LTS and another kernel, so yes it impacts.