Lakka fails to boot after repacking SYSTEM squashfs file

Libretro Lakka
#1

I’m attempting to make some changes to my Lakka system. The Lakka OS file system is a compressed read-only squashfs. I’ve had no issue uncompressing the file system. However once I repack the file system, Lakka fails to boot. I’ve confirmed that this happens regardless of making any changes or not. Simply unpacking and repacking the file system causes the issue. I’m able to revert back to a working copy of the SYSTEM file without issue.

My guess is that there are specific mksquashfs command switches that are required to get this working. I’ve tested the following commands. Neither work.

mksquashfs squashfs-root SYSTEM

mksquashfs squashfs-root SYSTEM -b 1024k -comp xz -Xbcj x86 -e boot

Can someone point me in the right direction with this?

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#2

It just occurred to me that I should choose a different CPU architecture as I am using a S905x. My guess is that I should be using -Xbcj arm not -Xbcj x86. This makes sense to me.

I will test this tonight and report back.

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#3

No luck with mksquashfs squashfs-root SYSTEM -b 1024k -comp xz -Xbcj arm -e boot …

#4

I wish I could answer your question, but I’m curious what kind of changes you are making that require this approach.

#5

Thanks for the post. My apologies for the delayed response. You’d think computers would just run themselves… haha

I would like to disable password authentication for the SSH server so that I can leave the SSH listener up without the security concern of an unchanged default password. Attempting to change the password yields the following result from Lakka:

Lakka:~ # passwd

 There is no working 'passwd'.

 The 'passwd' command changes passwords for user accounts.

 With LibreELEC it is not possible to change the system password

 SSH is included only as a last support resort. SSH is off by default.
 Most users never need SSH and need help using it so we need a default
 password. If you need to keep SSH always on then this is unsupported
 but can be secured with certificates.

 TIP: disable password authentication in ssh and use public key authentication.

Using certificate authentication for SSH and disabling password authentication is great advise… If I could just change one line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config… lol

The other setting I would like to change is to enable cheats in Lakka’s quick menu system. From what I’ve seen this can be done by changing one line in /etc/retroarch.cfg

quick_menu_show_cheats = “false” to quick_menu_show_cheats = “true”

Are there methods of achieving these configuration changes without modifying files within the read-only filesystem? Doubtful.

–unixnerd

#6

The other setting I would like to change is to enable cheats in Lakka’s quick menu system. From what I’ve seen this can be done by changing one line in /etc/retroarch.cfg

quick_menu_show_cheats = “false” to quick_menu_show_cheats = “true”

Are there methods of achieving these configuration changes without modifying files within the read-only filesystem? Doubtful.

The Lakka filesystem is more accurately described as an overly FS, so you can make changes to a file like retroarch.cfg yourself and it will ‘override’ the base read-only retroarch.cfg.

The key thing with manually editing retroarch.cfg is that you need to SSH to your Lakka box first, then stop the RetroArch service, make your change & save retroarch.cfg, then restart RetroArch. Otherwise, the changes you make to retroarch.cfg will be lost when RetroArch saves its configuration (something that happens every time Lakka/RA is exited).

I am not personally familiar with the SSH authentication change that you are trying to make however. Have you tried logging into Lakka commandline & changing that configuration to see what happens?

#7

Thanks for your response. I just tried logging into Lakka stopping the retroarch service with Lakka:~ # systemctl stop retroarch I then attempted to edit /etc/retroarch.cfg which still throws an error when trying to save my changes '/etc/retroarch.cfg' Read-only file system.

Trying to change the SSH configuration yields the same result.

–unixnerd

#8

I would have suggested you look at the section of the Lakka docs on editing retroarch.cfg, but you already seem to be following the procedure exactly: http://www.lakka.tv/doc/Configuring-Lakka/

I’ve never seen anyone here have problems editing retroarch.cfg before in Lakka so this may be a new or previously unreported bug.

If you are willing to provide these same details in a second location, I’d suggest that you post an Issue to the Lakka github tracker: https://github.com/libretro/Lakka-LibreELEC/issues

#9

I’m happy to log a bug on github regarding this situation. I’ll post back here with a link once I’ve done so.

Thanks,

–unixnerd

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