I think "file" is wrong. (I have the same kind of misleading output : "ASCII cpio archive ..." )
You can try to you use "unmkinitramfs" on your inird.img (unfortunately "cpio" does not work to fully "unarchive" this kind of "multi-segments" archive) and check the size. I have "lz4" initrd.img files around 80MB. If I uncompress/unarchive them with "unmkinitramfs", I get around 260MB of files and folders. If I remake initrd with COMPRESS=gzip in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf I get initrd files a bit smaller (around 74 MB) So I think update-initramfs (and the invoked script mkinitramfs) are doing their job. The "initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed" error might just be a cosmetic error from grub or kernel. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel Packages, which is subscribed to linux in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1835660 Title: initramfs unpacking failed Status in initramfs-tools package in Ubuntu: Invalid Status in linux package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: "initramfs unpacking failed: Decoding failed", message appears on boot up. If I "update-initramfs" using gzip instead of lz, then boot up passes without decoding failed message. --- However, we currently believe that the decoding error reported in dmesg is actually harmless and has no impact on usability on the system. Switching from lz4 to gzip compression, simply papers over the warning, without any benefits, and slows down boot. Kernel should be fixed to correctly parse lz4 compressed initrds, or at least lower the warning, to not be user visible as an error. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/+bug/1835660/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages Post to : kernel-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kernel-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
