Troubleshooting

binfmt_misc (cross-arch builds)

When building ARM images on an x86_64 host, Linux uses binfmt_misc to run ARM binaries via QEMU. If you see:

update-binfmts: warning: Couldn't load the binfmt_misc module.
chroot: failed to run command '/bin/true': Exec format error

Fix:

sudo modprobe binfmt_misc
sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static binfmt-support
sudo update-binfmts --enable

On WSL2 you may need to install binfmt-support on the host Windows side or use Docker instead.

"Required dependencies not installed"

The depends file lists tools that must be present on the build host. Read the README for the current install commands.

Note: grub-efi-amd64-bin and grub-pc-bin are data packages with no associated binary — they are not checked by the dependency checker but must be installed for grub-mkrescue to work.

ISO doesn't boot

Verify the ISO was written correctly: use Balena Etcher or dd — do not just copy the file.
In VMware/VirtualBox, set firmware to UEFI.
If GRUB appears but the system hangs after selecting a menu entry, try the "safe mode" entry (adds nomodeset).

Squashfs / initramfs errors during export-iso

mkinitramfs: failed to determine device for / — This happens when MODULES=dep is set in a chroot. The build sets MODULES=most to avoid this.
W: Couldn't identify type of root file system — Expected during initramfs generation in a live build; the fstab is rewritten for live-boot and has no real block devices to detect.

Stage fails despite SKIP file

SKIP files only skip re-running the stage scripts. They do not skip the export pipeline. Use SKIP_IMAGES to skip exports while still running the stage.

Build fails on NTFS / exFAT partition

The work directory must be on a Linux filesystem (ext4, btrfs, xfs). NTFS and exFAT do not support the required file attributes. Set WORK_DIR to a path on a Linux filesystem:

export WORK_DIR=/mnt/linux-disk/chillcraftos-work

Apt errors: "doesn't support architecture"

The ChillcraftOS apt repo (cdn.oxmc.me/apt) currently only supports arm64/armhf. On amd64 builds you will see:

Notice: Skipping ... doesn't support architecture 'amd64'

This is expected and not an error — standard Debian repos are used for amd64 packages.

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