[PATCH v2 1/2] image-postproc: ignore systemd preset failures

[Badrikesh Prusty]

Add '|| true' to systemd preset invocation during image postprocessing
to tolerate failures caused by already-masked units.

Signed-off-by: Badrikesh Prusty <badrikes...@siemens.com>
---
meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass
index 8485b32f..ef3ddb84 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ image_postprocess_populate_systemd_preset() {
--show systemd || echo "" )

if (test "$SYSTEMD_INSTALLED" = "installed"); then
- sudo chroot '${ROOTFSDIR}' systemctl preset-all --preset-mode="enable-only"
+ sudo chroot '${ROOTFSDIR}' systemctl preset-all --preset-mode="enable-only" || true
fi
}

--
2.47.3

[Badrikesh Prusty]

Disable running populate-systemd-preset at build time by default.
Although systemd runs enable-only presets at first boot, running this
step during image creation changes the enabled state of units before
systemd’s first-boot logic runs, ignores disable rules, and can cause
some services to fail during runtime.

Downstream users can opt in when preset population is required.

Opt-in:
ROOTFS_FEATURES:append = " populate-systemd-preset"

Signed-off-by: Badrikesh Prusty <badrikes...@siemens.com>
---

RECIPE-API-CHANGELOG.md | 14 ++++++++++++++
meta/classes-recipe/image.bbclass | 1 -
2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/RECIPE-API-CHANGELOG.md b/RECIPE-API-CHANGELOG.md
index 0bad8a44..46c8c905 100644
--- a/RECIPE-API-CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/RECIPE-API-CHANGELOG.md
@@ -962,3 +962,17 @@ INSTALLER_UNATTENDED_ABORT_ENABLE = "1"
# Optional: set countdown timeout in seconds (default 5)
INSTALLER_UNATTENDED_ABORT_TIMEOUT = "5"
```
+
+### Make populate-systemd-preset opt-in
+
+Running populate-systemd-preset at build time is disabled by default.
+Although systemd runs enable-only presets by default at first boot,
+running this step at build time changes the enabled state of units
+before systemd’s first-boot logic runs, ignores disable rules, and
+can cause some services to fail during runtime.
+
+Downstream users can explicitly enable this feature when preset
+population is required during image creation.
+
+Opt-in:
+ ROOTFS_FEATURES:append = " populate-systemd-preset"
diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/image.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/image.bbclass
index e605bc80..47ed068d 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/image.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/image.bbclass
@@ -101,7 +101,6 @@ ROOTFS_FEATURES += "\
export-dpkg-status \
clean-log-files \
clean-debconf-cache \
- populate-systemd-preset \
generate-sbom \
"
ROOTFS_PACKAGES += "${IMAGE_PREINSTALL} ${@isar_multiarch_packages('IMAGE_INSTALL', d)}"
--
2.47.3

[Florian Bezdeka]

On Tue, 2026-01-13 at 09:48 -0500, 'Badrikesh Prusty' via isar-users
wrote:

> Add '|| true' to systemd preset invocation during image postprocessing
> to tolerate failures caused by already-masked units.

Hm. It's an assumption that this can only fail because of already-masked
units, no? Looking at the implementation below it looks more like that
we hide any error now.

>
> Signed-off-by: Badrikesh Prusty <badrikes...@siemens.com>
> ---
> meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass | 2 +-
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass
> index 8485b32f..ef3ddb84 100644
> --- a/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass
> +++ b/meta/classes-recipe/rootfs.bbclass
> @@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ image_postprocess_populate_systemd_preset() {
> --show systemd || echo "" )
>
> if (test "$SYSTEMD_INSTALLED" = "installed"); then
> - sudo chroot '${ROOTFSDIR}' systemctl preset-all --preset-mode="enable-only"
> + sudo chroot '${ROOTFSDIR}' systemctl preset-all --preset-mode="enable-only" || true
> fi
> }
>
> --
> 2.47.3
>

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[Badrikesh Prusty]

Hi,

>> Hm. It's an assumption that this can only fail because of already-masked
>> units, no? Looking at the implementation below it looks more like that
>> we hide any error now.

>>

Definitely not just an assumption, that’s one concrete reason among others.

For example, I have a package that runs `systemctl mask <service>` in its

postinst script of a package getting installed to rootfs during the rootfs_install

task. When the image postprocessing runs `systemctl preset ....` , it fails

because it tries to enable that masked service.

Thanks,

Badrikesh

[Heinisch, Alexander]

On Tue, 2026-01-13 at 09:48 -0500, Badrikesh Prusty wrote:
> Disable running populate-systemd-preset at build time by default.
> Although systemd runs enable-only presets at first boot, running this
> step during image creation changes the enabled state of units before
> systemd’s first-boot logic runs, 

Why is this a problem? The reasons why to have services prepopulated
are listed here [1].

> ignores disable rules, and can cause

...as is the case with current systemd

> some services to fail during runtime.

What's the difference compared to enabling on first-boot?

>
> Downstream users can opt in when preset population is required.

Imo, having the pre population enabled seems to me a propper default.
If downstream has issues with the prepopulation, for some reason (maybe
you can clarify based on concrete cases) then you always can opt-out
via: ROOTFS_FEATURES:remove = "populate-systemd-preset"

Initially your V1 was about not only enabling but also disabling
services in the postprocessing. What caused the change to neither
populate enabled nor disabled units? As above, maybe a concrete example
helps to understand your requirements.

BR Alexander

1:
https://github.com/ilbers/isar/blob/master/RECIPE-API-CHANGELOG.md#populate-systemd-units-based-on-presets-during-image-postprocessing

Alexander Heinisch
Siemens AG
www.siemens.com