lib / rootfs-create: make rm command more robust

[leggewie]

this fixes the issue raised in armbian/apa#32

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Improved robustness of the system initialization process to gracefully handle scenarios where certain system files may be missing, preventing unnecessary interruptions.

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[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

Modified the rootfs creation script to add the -f flag to three rm commands when removing resolv.conf and machine-id-related paths. The -f flag suppresses errors if targets are missing, while -v preserves verbose output. No logic or control-flow changes.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Shell script defensive coding lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh	Updated three rm -v commands to rm -fv when removing resolv.conf and machine-id files, adding the force flag to suppress errors if targets don't exist

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

• Single file with repetitive, uniform change across three occurrences
• No logic modifications or control-flow implications
• Straightforward defensive coding improvement

Poem

A rabbit hops through rootfs clean,
With rm -fv, no errors seen,
Three gentle flags now safer still,
Missing files bend to our will! 🐰✨

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately summarizes the main change: adding the -f flag to rm commands to make them more robust by suppressing errors for missing files.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 413d6d4 and 1a9b711.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh (3 hunks)

🧰 Additional context used

🧠 Learnings (2)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: tabrisnet
Repo: armbian/build PR: 0
File: :0-0
Timestamp: 2025-10-24T04:46:22.901Z
Learning: In lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh, the FIXME comment about mmdebstrap usage with --aptopt is a future note related to PR #8785, which hasn't been merged yet.

📚 Learning: 2025-10-24T04:46:22.901Z

Learnt from: tabrisnet
Repo: armbian/build PR: 0
File: :0-0
Timestamp: 2025-10-24T04:46:22.901Z
Learning: In lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh, the FIXME comment about mmdebstrap usage with --aptopt is a future note related to PR #8785, which hasn't been merged yet.

Applied to files:

• lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh

🧬 Code graph analysis (1)

lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh (2)

lib/functions/logging/runners.sh (1)

• run_host_command_logged (204-206)

lib/functions/rootfs/post-tweaks.sh (1)

• post_debootstrap_tweaks (10-34)

🔇 Additional comments (1)

lib/functions/rootfs/rootfs-create.sh (1)

285-285: LGTM! Robustness improvements align with existing patterns.

Adding the -f flag to suppress errors when targets are missing is appropriate for idempotent build operations. This change is consistent with the same pattern already established in lib/functions/rootfs/post-tweaks.sh (lines 18, 25, 33), making the codebase more uniform and robust to edge cases where files may not exist during rootfs creation.

Also applies to: 336-336, 345-345

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[github-actions]

✅ This PR has been reviewed and approved — all set for merge!

[tabrisnet]

I'm wondering that this isn't the wrong thing. yes, I did mention it in armbian/apa#32 as a possible solution, but I'm thinking that perhaps this needs doing later in the build process. as late as possible.

additionally, I would ask: how has this been tested and under what circumstances would the build break without this but not break with this change.
This feels like it could paper over more subtle problems that will bite us later.
e.g. dbus seems to be mandatory [or dbus-broker] for a system that relies on systemd [we're not a Devuan fork].

[leggewie]

the current code assumes the existence of a file to be removed. this PR merely relaxes this assumption. the improved code leads to the (apparently) desired outcome in a more robust fashion (file is absent) when before it only did so under a specific circumstance.

this code change makes no statement as to whether or not dbus should be installed or when.

if you think there is something wrong or if things can be done better still, then by all means go ahead and discuss it or raise a PR

[tabrisnet]

Before this PR, it was, right after debootstrap, deleting the resolv.conf and machine-id files. At the time of these calls [strictly speaking, immediately after] it made sure the files were absent. This behaviour isn't changed. The change this PR makes rather is that they could have been absent before the rm calls, and this wasn't allowed, causing a failure. That is, their existence was assumed and expected. As to ordering, if we start changing when packages get installed by changing dependencies, these files might get instantiated later. In main, APA gets called during image creation which is subsequent to this code. Or alternatively, we have extensions/network/, which again get called during the image phase. The results of any extension/hook may create the files were they not created by prior pkg installs [which again we are talking about changing how/when pkgs get installed in the near future].

[rpardini]

This is the opposite of making it "more robust".
It is essentially ignoring errors.
If the files aren't there, some earlier expectation failed, and more stuff will also fail.
Shameful.