How to build an arch image from ubuntu host #4135

ssooffiiaannee · 2026-01-23T22:02:51Z

ssooffiiaannee
Jan 23, 2026

I have tried building an arch distribution from ubuntu host.

From mkosi.confi : Any distro that packages **pacman** may be used to build *Arch Linux* images.

Is it safe to install pacman in ubuntu and build an arch linux disto ?
I havef tried:

mkosi -d arch -r release // got an ERROR

/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-tests-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-ukify-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
‣ "repo-add --quiet /work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/mkosi.db.tar '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-tests-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-ukify-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar'" returned non-zero exit code 1.

adding Distribution=arch in mkosi.conf // ignored, it built an ubuntu

Answered by MoltenArmor

Jan 27, 2026

I was on commit 7c0afcdde22d3d94fd23bfd0e473c263aaf54e8a, they removed it since. With the latest main branch commit 50caaf267b6ac6a83a0edaffbea232275372dfdb, it still does not build :

/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/…

View full answer

MoltenArmor · 2026-01-24T04:13:13Z

MoltenArmor
Jan 24, 2026

Can't reproduce your problem with mkosi -d arch -r release. Can you attach your full mkosi.conf?

BTW if you don't want to install pacman on your host you can use a tools tree.

0 replies

ssooffiiaannee · 2026-01-24T11:59:54Z

ssooffiiaannee
Jan 24, 2026
Author

From systemd master branch commit : 7c0afcdde22d3d94fd23bfd0e473c263aaf54e8a
I have run mkosi build with the following two lines added to mkosi.conf:
mkosi 27~devel

[Distribution]
Distribution=arch
Release=latest

mkosi.conf from systemd repo :

# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later

[Config]
MinimumVersion=25
Dependencies=
        exitrd
        initrd
        minimal-base
        minimal-0
        minimal-1

PassEnvironment=
        NO_BUILD
        NO_SYNC
        WIPE
        SANITIZERS
        CFLAGS
        LDFLAGS
        LLVM
        MESON_VERBOSE
        MESON_OPTIONS
        SYSEXT
        WITH_DEBUG
        ASAN_OPTIONS
        COVERAGE
        VCS_TAG

[Output]
RepartDirectories=mkosi.repart
OutputDirectory=build/mkosi.output

[Build]
ToolsTree=default
BuildDirectory=build/mkosi.builddir
CacheDirectory=build/mkosi.cache
Incremental=yes

[Validation]
SignExpectedPcr=yes

# I tried with and without this section
[Distribution]
Distribution=arch
Release=latest

[Content]
ExtraTrees=
        mkosi.extra.common
        mkosi.crt:/usr/lib/verity.d/mkosi.crt # sysext verification key
        %O/minimal-0.root-%a.raw:/usr/share/minimal_0.raw
        %O/minimal-0.root-%a-verity.raw:/usr/share/minimal_0.verity
        %O/minimal-0.root-%a-verity-sig.raw:/usr/share/minimal_0.verity.sig
        %O/minimal-1.root-%a.raw:/usr/share/minimal_1.raw
        %O/minimal-1.root-%a-verity.raw:/usr/share/minimal_1.verity
        %O/minimal-1.root-%a-verity-sig.raw:/usr/share/minimal_1.verity.sig
        %O/minimal-base:/usr/share/TEST-13-NSPAWN-container-template
        %O/exitrd:/exitrd

Initrds=%O/initrd

# Disable relabeling by default as it only matters for TEST-06-SELINUX, takes a non-trivial amount of time
# and results in lots of errors when building images as a regular user.
SELinuxRelabel=no

# Adding more kernel command line arguments is likely to hit the kernel command line limit (512 bytes) in
# various scenarios. Consider adding support for a credential instead if possible and using that.
KernelCommandLine=
        systemd.crash_shell
        systemd.log_level=debug,console:info
        systemd.log_ratelimit_kmsg=0
        # Disable the kernel's ratelimiting on userspace logging to kmsg.
        printk.devkmsg=on
        # Make sure /sysroot is mounted rw in the initrd.
        rw
        # Make sure no LSMs are enabled by default.
        selinux=0
        systemd.early_core_pattern=/core
        systemd.firstboot=no
        raid=noautodetect
        oops=panic
        panic=-1
        softlockup_panic=1
        # Disabled due to BTRFS issue, waiting for the fix to become available
        panic_on_warn=0
        psi=1

KernelModulesInitrdExclude=.*
KernelModulesInitrdInclude=default

Packages=
        acl
        attr
        bash-completion
        binutils
        coreutils
        curl
        diffutils
        dnsmasq
        dosfstools
        e2fsprogs
        findutils
        gdb
        grep
        gzip
        jq
        kbd
        kexec-tools
        kmod
        less
        llvm
        lsof
        lvm2
        man
        mdadm
        mtools
        nano
        nftables
        nvme-cli
        opensc
        openssl
        p11-kit
        pciutils
        python3
        radvd
        rsync
        sed
        socat
        strace
        tar
        tmux
        tree
        util-linux
        valgrind
        which
        wireguard-tools
        xfsprogs
        zsh
        zstd

[Runtime]
Credentials=
        journal.storage=persistent
        tty.serial.hvc0.agetty.autologin=root
        tty.serial.hvc0.login.noauth=yes
        tty.console.agetty.autologin=root
        tty.console.login.noauth=yes
RuntimeBuildSources=yes
RuntimeScratch=no
CPUs=2
TPM=yes
VSock=yes
KVM=yes

[Include]
Include=%D/mkosi.sanitizers
        %D/mkosi.coverage

10 replies

ssooffiiaannee Jan 26, 2026
Author

 $ mkosi -d arch -r release
‣ Copying in sandbox trees…
‣ Running sync script /home/soham/Desktop/yocto_exp/systemd/mkosi/mkosi.sync…
‣ Copying in sandbox trees…
‣ Syncing package manager metadata
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing InRelease [137 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian-debug testing-debug InRelease [43.4 kB]                      
Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing-updates InRelease [40.6 kB]               
Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security testing-security InRelease [43.4 kB]
Get:5 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/enr0n/qemu/ubuntu noble InRelease [24.1 kB]
Get:6 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main Sources [10.6 MB]
Get:7 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 Packages [9530 kB]
Get:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main Translation-en [6395 kB]
Get:9 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/enr0n/qemu/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages [5020 B]
Get:10 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/enr0n/qemu/ubuntu noble/main Translation-en [3440 B]    
Get:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian-debug testing-debug/main Sources [2965 kB]                         
Get:12 http://deb.debian.org/debian-debug testing-debug/main amd64 Packages [3691 kB]
Fetched 33.4 MB in 2s (16.5 MB/s)                        
Reading package lists... Done
‣ Building tools image                                    <====================
‣  Copying in sandbox trees…
‣  Installing Debian
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done

Note that the first attempt to compile with mkosi -d arch -r release leads to an error :

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'git' instead of 'git-core'
Note, selecting 'man-db' instead of 'man'
Note, selecting 'gnu-which' instead of 'which'
E: Unable to locate package gh

I commented out the gh in Packges (debian-ubuntu.conf) to bypass the error, I am not sure if this is the cause but I get another build error :

/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-0taw6kpz/repository/systemd-libs-259~rc3-20260126172034-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-0taw6kpz/repository/systemd-resolvconf-259~rc3-20260126172034-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-0taw6kpz/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-259~rc3-20260126172034-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-0taw6kpz/repository/systemd-tests-259~rc3-20260126172034-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-0taw6kpz/repository/systemd-ukify-259~rc3-20260126172034-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-0taw6kpz/repository/systemd-259~rc3-20260126172034-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping

MoltenArmor Jan 27, 2026

Note that the first attempt to compile with mkosi -d arch -r release leads to an error :
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'git' instead of 'git-core'
Note, selecting 'man-db' instead of 'man'
Note, selecting 'gnu-which' instead of 'which'
E: Unable to locate package gh
I commented out the gh in Packges (debian-ubuntu.conf) to bypass the error

I'm really confused. Where does this gh package come from? Why doesn't it show up in mkosi summary output? Can you help point out the exact path of this debian-ubuntu.conf?

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026
Author

I was on commit 7c0afcdde22d3d94fd23bfd0e473c263aaf54e8a, they removed it since.
With the latest main branch commit 50caaf267b6ac6a83a0edaffbea232275372dfdb, it still does not build :

/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-tests-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-ukify-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
‣ "repo-add --quiet /work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/mkosi.db.tar '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-tests-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-ukify-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar'" returned non-zero exit code 1.

How to reproduce :

git clone https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git
cd systemd
mkosi -d arch -r release

MoltenArmor Jan 27, 2026

I was on commit 7c0afcdde22d3d94fd23bfd0e473c263aaf54e8a, they removed it since. With the latest main branch commit 50caaf267b6ac6a83a0edaffbea232275372dfdb, it still does not build :

/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-tests-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-ukify-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
/usr/bin/repo-add: line 480: bsdtar: command not found
==> ERROR: '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' is not a package file, skipping
‣ "repo-add --quiet /work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/mkosi.db.tar '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-libs-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-resolvconf-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-sysvcompat-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-tests-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-ukify-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar' '/work/home/soham/.cache/mkosi/mkosi-workspace-ezl6gdmx/repository/systemd-260~devel-20260127083728-x86_64.pkg.tar'" returned non-zero exit code 1.

I think I figured out what's going on. You need to add --tools-tree-package=libarchive-tools to provide the bsdtar command-line tool in the tools tree. Or, if you aren't using a tools tree, just install the libarchive-tools package on your host Ubuntu system.

Answer selected by ssooffiiaannee

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026
Author

I did have bsdtar, and tried installing libarchive-tools and got the same error.
The tools flags did work though.

mkosi -d arch -r release --tools-tree-package=libarchive-tools
mkosi build
mkosi -d arch -r release vm

daandemeyer Jan 27, 2026
Maintainer

We need to add libarchive-tools to the ubuntu/debian tools tree package manager profile.

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026
Author

maybe PR #4141? Do I need to create the issue and link it from/to the commit message ?

How to build an arch image from ubuntu host #4135

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

ssooffiiaannee Jan 23, 2026

Replies: 2 comments · 10 replies

Uh oh!

MoltenArmor Jan 24, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

ssooffiiaannee Jan 24, 2026 Author

Uh oh!

ssooffiiaannee Jan 26, 2026 Author

Uh oh!

MoltenArmor Jan 27, 2026

Uh oh!

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026 Author

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

MoltenArmor Jan 27, 2026

Uh oh!

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026 Author

Uh oh!

daandemeyer Jan 27, 2026 Maintainer

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026 Author

ssooffiiaannee
Jan 23, 2026

Replies: 2 comments 10 replies

MoltenArmor
Jan 24, 2026

ssooffiiaannee
Jan 24, 2026
Author

ssooffiiaannee Jan 26, 2026
Author

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026
Author

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026
Author

daandemeyer Jan 27, 2026
Maintainer

ssooffiiaannee Jan 27, 2026
Author