first time archinstall breaks (bad file descriptor, failed to copy permissions, etc)

[ldr]

I think it's not the same as #2046 but I'm not really sure ?

Here are the logs: archinstall-crash.tmux.txt

Today wanted to do my first archinstall on my new workstation (have done the old fashioned ways many times)

When installation is ongoing I see several things, like:
Failed to write /etc/machine-id: Bad file descriptor
and
Failed to copy permissions from /etc/group to /etc/.#group7db53da4abca2c9a: No such file or directory
then
Failed to resolve group .. but is understandable if previous steps already broke

it ends with:

['/usr/bin/arch-chroot', '/mnt/archinstall', 'bootctl', '--no-variables', 'install'] exited with abnormal exit code [1]:
[!] A log file has been created here: /var/log/archinstall/install.log
    Please submit this issue (and file) to https://github.com/archlinux/archinstall/issues
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/installer.py", line 740, in _add_systemd_bootloader
    SysCommand(f"/usr/bin/arch-chroot {self.target} bootctl {' '.join(bootctl_options)} install")
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/general.py", line 366, in __init__
    self.create_session()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/general.py", line 415, in create_session
    with SysCommandWorker(
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/general.py", line 199, in __exit__
    raise SysCallError(
archinstall.lib.exceptions.SysCallError: ['/usr/bin/arch-chroot', '/mnt/archinstall', 'bootctl', 'install'] exited with abnormal exit code [1]:

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/archinstall", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(run_as_a_module())
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/__init__.py", line 291, in run_as_a_module
    importlib.import_module(mod_name)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/importlib/__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1204, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1176, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1147, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 690, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 940, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 241, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/scripts/guided.py", line 256, in <module>
    perform_installation(archinstall.storage.get('MOUNT_POINT', Path('/mnt')))
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/scripts/guided.py", line 117, in perform_installation
    with Installer(
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/installer.py", line 111, in __exit__
    raise exc_val
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/scripts/guided.py", line 157, in perform_installation
    installation.add_bootloader(archinstall.arguments["bootloader"])
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/installer.py", line 1115, in add_bootloader
    self._add_systemd_bootloader(boot_partition, root_partition, efi_partition)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/installer.py", line 743, in _add_systemd_bootloader
    SysCommand(f"/usr/bin/arch-chroot {self.target} bootctl --no-variables {' '.join(bootctl_options)} install")
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/general.py", line 366, in __init__
    self.create_session()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/general.py", line 415, in create_session
    with SysCommandWorker(
  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/archinstall/lib/general.py", line 199, in __exit__
    raise SysCallError(
archinstall.lib.exceptions.SysCallError: ['/usr/bin/arch-chroot', '/mnt/archinstall', 'bootctl', '--no-variables', 'install'] exited with abnormal exit code [1]:
archinstall  26.56s user 20.31s system 13% cpu 5:38.25 total

I did try several workarounds that are mentioned in the other ticket, like putting in the testing repo in /etc/pacman.conf, manually installing the systemd 254.3, do not define a user in archinstall, but all times in breaks in the same way.

Hope someone can help me out a bit, thanks !!

[bertbesser]

Mentioned the other issue b/c for my both happen at the same time. Not sure how closely related, though.

[williamKhine]

been having the same error message today.

[gallodelfierro]

I find it annoying, earlier this year had installed Arch in VMs and on hardware it seemed fine not sure if this is specific to virtualbox maybe if not an Arch issue. I am sticking to Debian and Debian based distros for now

[SMGttv]

If I understand correctly, this is an issue with systemd. Both with the bootctl install command and creating users and adding new user to groups. This also stops a manual installation so it's not an archinstall specific issue. One fix suggested was to downgrade systemd to 254.1. Didn't test it as it got late and I was over it at that point.

[bertbesser]

Hi. 254.1 was installed already on my latest flash drive. I downgraded to 253.1, which then showed the same behavior.

[deepkerch]

A temporary solution to all your problems that worked for me.

vim /etc/pacman.conf

- [core]
- Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
+ [core]
+ SigLevel = PackageRequired
+ Server = https://archive.archlinux.org/repos/2023/09/01/$repo/os/$arch

pacman -Syy

Once installed and rebooted, you can run pacman -Syu without any problems and your system will work as normally.

[SMGttv]

Hey that worked! Out of curiosity, what is causing the issue?

[deepkerch]

I wasn't much interested in the nature of the problem, but a cursory reading of the issues lead me to the fact that there was a bug in the systemd release.

[ldr]

Hey @deepkerch that worked! Also nice, didn't know that was possible :) Thanks !!

So this is the same as the other tickets after all, will close this one.

[bertbesser]

Yes, the workaround worked. Thank you very much @deepkerch!