mkosi ignoring argument `--distribution` when building `main` image

[Masber]

mkosi commit the issue has been seen with

c37a55f

Used host distribution

Arch Linux

Used target distribution

fedora

Linux kernel version used

6.16.10-arch1-1

CPU architectures issue was seen on

x86_64

Unexpected behaviour you saw

mkosi is building main image with wrong distribution

This is the command I use to build images:

sudo mkosi -d fedora --format directory -o foobar -f --debug cat-config

Image builds successfully but the distro is Arch Linux instead of fedora

cat /home/masber/mkosi_conf/mkosi.output/foobar/etc/os-release
NAME="Arch Linux"
PRETTY_NAME="Arch Linux"
ID=arch
BUILD_ID=rolling
ANSI_COLOR="38;2;23;147;209"
HOME_URL="https://archlinux.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://wiki.archlinux.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://bbs.archlinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://gitlab.archlinux.org/groups/archlinux/-/issues"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://terms.archlinux.org/docs/privacy-policy/"
LOGO=archlinux-logo

I don't understand why the main image is Arch when I specified fedora in the mkosi command line

Used mkosi config

### IMAGE: main
# mkosi.conf

mkosi output

sudo mkosi -d fedora --format directory -o foobar -f --debug build
‣ Loading configuration file /home/masber/mkosi_conf/mkosi.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmpqqz4r3yx/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmpqqz4r3yx/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf.d/arch.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmpqqz4r3yx/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmpqqz4r3yx/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf.d/azure-centos-fedora.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmpqqz4r3yx/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf.d/fedora.conf
‣ Validating certificates and keys
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ Syncing package manager metadata
‣ + dnf5 --assumeyes --best --releasever=rawhide --installroot=/buildroot --setopt=keepcache=1 --setopt=logdir=/var/log --setopt=cachedir=/var/cache/libdnf5 --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 --setopt=check_config_file_age=0 --setopt=persistdir=/buildroot/var/lib/dnf --setopt=debuglevel=10 --use-host-config --setopt=proxy_sslcacert=/proxy.cacert makecache
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Metadata cache created.
‣ + rm -rf -- /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-1jl7vlrx /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-1jl7vlrx/root
‣ Building main image
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣  Installing Fedora Linux
‣ + dnf5 --assumeyes --best --releasever=rawhide --installroot=/buildroot --setopt=keepcache=1 --setopt=logdir=/var/log --setopt=cachedir=/var/cache/libdnf5 --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 --setopt=check_config_file_age=0 --setopt=persistdir=/buildroot/var/lib/dnf --setopt=debuglevel=10 --setopt=metadata_expire=never --setopt=cacheonly=metadata --use-host-config --setopt=proxy_sslcacert=/proxy.cacert install basesystem
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Package                                              Arch          Version                                               Repository                        Size
Installing:
 filesystem                                          x86_64        3.18-50.fc43                                          fedora                       112.0   B
Installing dependencies:
 fedora-gpg-keys                                     noarch        44-0.1                                                fedora                       131.2 KiB
 fedora-release                                      noarch        44-0.3                                                fedora                         0.0   B
 fedora-release-common                               noarch        44-0.3                                                fedora                        20.6 KiB
 fedora-release-identity-basic                       noarch        44-0.3                                                fedora                       664.0   B
 fedora-repos                                        noarch        44-0.1                                                fedora                         4.9 KiB
 fedora-repos-rawhide                                noarch        44-0.1                                                fedora                         2.2 KiB
 setup                                               noarch        2.15.0-26.fc43                                        fedora                       725.0 KiB

Transaction Summary:
 Installing:         8 packages

Total size of inbound packages is 2 MiB. Need to download 0 B.
After this operation, 885 KiB extra will be used (install 885 KiB, remove 0 B).
[1/8] filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64                                                                                 100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[2/8] setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch                                                                                    100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[3/8] fedora-release-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                                   100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[4/8] fedora-release-common-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                            100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[5/8] fedora-repos-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                                     100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[6/8] fedora-gpg-keys-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                                  100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[7/8] fedora-repos-rawhide-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                             100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[8/8] fedora-release-identity-basic-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                    100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[8/8] Total                                                                                                            100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
Running transaction
Importing OpenPGP key 0x31645531:
 UserID     : "Fedora (43) <fedora-43-primary@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: C6E7F081CF80E13146676E88829B606631645531
 From       : file:///usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-43-primary
The key was successfully imported.
Importing OpenPGP key 0x6D9F90A6:
 UserID     : "Fedora (44) <fedora-44-primary@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: 36F612DCF27F7D1A48A835E4DBFCF71C6D9F90A6
 From       : file:///usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary
The key was successfully imported.
Importing OpenPGP key 0xF577861E:
 UserID     : "Fedora (45) <fedora-45-primary@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: 4F50A6114CD5C6976A7F1179655A4B02F577861E
 From       : file:///usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary
The key was successfully imported.
[ 1/10] Verify package files                                                                                           100% | 250.0   B/s |   8.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Running %pretrans scriptlet: filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64
>>> Finished %pretrans scriptlet: filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64
>>> [RPM] private mounts in chroot not implemented
[ 2/10] Prepare transaction                                                                                            100% | 380.0   B/s |   8.0   B |  00m00s
[ 3/10] Installing fedora-release-identity-basic-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                       100% |   0.0   B/s | 920.0   B |  00m00s
[ 4/10] Installing fedora-repos-rawhide-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                100% |   2.4 MiB/s |   2.4 KiB |  00m00s
[ 5/10] Installing fedora-gpg-keys-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                     100% |  17.5 MiB/s | 179.0 KiB |  00m00s
[ 6/10] Installing fedora-repos-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                        100% |   0.0   B/s |   5.7 KiB |  00m00s
[ 7/10] Installing fedora-release-common-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                               100% |  12.1 MiB/s |  24.9 KiB |  00m00s
[ 8/10] Installing fedora-release-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                      100% |  98.0   B/s | 124.0   B |  00m01s
>>> Running sysusers scriptlet: setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch
>>> Finished sysusers scriptlet: setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch
>>> Scriptlet output:
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/sbin/halt'
>>> useradd warning: nobody's uid 65534 is greater than SYS_UID_MAX 999
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/bin/bash'
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/sbin/shutdown'
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/bin/sync'
>>>
[ 9/10] Installing setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch                                                                       100% |  19.8 MiB/s | 730.6 KiB |  00m00s
[10/10] Installing filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64                                                                    100% |   1.4 MiB/s | 212.8 KiB |  00m00s
Complete!
‣  Copying in extra file trees…
‣ + cp --version
‣ + cp --recursive --no-dereference --preserve=mode,links --reflink=auto --copy-contents /work/home/masber/mkosi_conf/mkosi.extra /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-4n3e_11d/root --keep-directory-symlink --no-target-directory
‣  Generating system users
‣ + systemd-sysusers --root=/buildroot
‣  Generating volatile files
‣ + systemd-tmpfiles --root=/buildroot --boot --create --remove --exclude-prefix=/tmp --exclude-prefix=/var/tmp --exclude-prefix=/run --exclude-prefix=/proc --exclude-prefix=/sys --exclude-prefix=/dev
‣  Applying presets…
‣ + systemctl --root=/buildroot preset-all
‣ + systemctl --root=/buildroot --global preset-all
‣  Generating hardware database
‣ + systemd-hwdb --root=/buildroot --usr --strict update
No hwdb files found, skipping.
‣ + kernel-install --help
‣ + kernel-install --version
‣ Version reported by kernel-install is 258-4-arch
‣ + kernel-install --root=/buildroot --json=pretty inspect
‣ {
    "MachineID": "62fa3edcddb24310aa771fd6a6843726",
    "KernelImageType": "unknown",
    "Layout": "bls",
    "BootRoot": "boot",
    "EntryTokenType": "os-id",
    "EntryToken": "arch",
    "EntryDirectory": "boot/arch/KERNEL_VERSION",
    "KernelVersion": null,
    "Kernel": null,
    "Initrds": null,
    "InitrdGenerator": null,
    "UKIGenerator": null,
    "Plugins": null,
    "PluginEnvironment": [
        "LC_COLLATE=C.UTF-8",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_VERBOSE=0",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_IMAGE_TYPE=unknown",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_MACHINE_ID=62fa3edcddb24310aa771fd6a6843726",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_ENTRY_TOKEN=arch",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_BOOT_ROOT=boot",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_LAYOUT=bls",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_INITRD_GENERATOR=",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_UKI_GENERATOR=",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_STAGING_AREA=/tmp/kernel-install.staging.XXXXXX"
    ]
}
‣  /home/masber/mkosi_conf/mkosi.output/foobar size is 4.1M.
‣ + rm -rf -- /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-4n3e_11d
‣ + tput cnorm
‣ + tput smam

[Masber]

on the other hand, setting forcing empty config using --directory= works:

sudo mkosi -d fedora --format directory -o foobar -f --debug --directory= build
‣ Removing output files of main image…
‣ Acquiring lock on /home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar
‣ Acquired lock on /home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar
‣ + rm -rf -- /work/home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar /work/home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar.initrd /work/home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar.vmlinuz
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmp917v5f2m/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmp917v5f2m/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf.d/arch.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmp917v5f2m/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmp917v5f2m/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf.d/azure-centos-fedora.conf
‣ Loading configuration file /tmp/tmp917v5f2m/resources/mkosi-initrd/mkosi.conf.d/fedora.conf
‣ Validating certificates and keys
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ Syncing package manager metadata
‣ + dnf5 --assumeyes --best --releasever=rawhide --installroot=/buildroot --setopt=keepcache=1 --setopt=logdir=/var/log --setopt=cachedir=/var/cache/libdnf5 --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 --setopt=check_config_file_age=0 --setopt=persistdir=/buildroot/var/lib/dnf --setopt=debuglevel=10 --use-host-config --setopt=proxy_sslcacert=/proxy.cacert makecache
Updating and loading repositories:
 fedora                                                                                                                100% |   5.0 MiB/s |  15.6 MiB |  00m03s
Repositories loaded.
Metadata cache created.
‣ + rm -rf -- /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-d9xl1msf /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-d9xl1msf/root
‣ Building main image
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-rawhide-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣ + bash -c 'shopt -s nullglob && printf '"'"'%s\n'"'"' /usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/*/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-46-primary* | xargs -r readlink -f'
‣  Installing Fedora Linux
‣ + dnf5 --assumeyes --best --releasever=rawhide --installroot=/buildroot --setopt=keepcache=1 --setopt=logdir=/var/log --setopt=cachedir=/var/cache/libdnf5 --setopt=install_weak_deps=0 --setopt=check_config_file_age=0 --setopt=persistdir=/buildroot/var/lib/dnf --setopt=debuglevel=10 --setopt=metadata_expire=never --setopt=cacheonly=metadata --use-host-config --setopt=proxy_sslcacert=/proxy.cacert install basesystem
Updating and loading repositories:
Repositories loaded.
Package                                              Arch          Version                                               Repository                        Size
Installing:
 filesystem                                          x86_64        3.18-50.fc43                                          fedora                       112.0   B
Installing dependencies:
 fedora-gpg-keys                                     noarch        44-0.1                                                fedora                       131.2 KiB
 fedora-release                                      noarch        44-0.3                                                fedora                         0.0   B
 fedora-release-common                               noarch        44-0.3                                                fedora                        20.6 KiB
 fedora-release-identity-basic                       noarch        44-0.3                                                fedora                       664.0   B
 fedora-repos                                        noarch        44-0.1                                                fedora                         4.9 KiB
 fedora-repos-rawhide                                noarch        44-0.1                                                fedora                         2.2 KiB
 setup                                               noarch        2.15.0-26.fc43                                        fedora                       725.0 KiB

Transaction Summary:
 Installing:         8 packages

Total size of inbound packages is 2 MiB. Need to download 0 B.
After this operation, 885 KiB extra will be used (install 885 KiB, remove 0 B).
[1/8] filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64                                                                                 100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[2/8] setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch                                                                                    100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[3/8] fedora-release-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                                   100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[4/8] fedora-release-common-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                            100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[5/8] fedora-repos-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                                     100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[6/8] fedora-gpg-keys-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                                  100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[7/8] fedora-repos-rawhide-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                             100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
[8/8] fedora-release-identity-basic-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                    100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Already downloaded
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[8/8] Total                                                                                                            100% |   0.0   B/s |   0.0   B |  00m00s
Running transaction
Importing OpenPGP key 0x31645531:
 UserID     : "Fedora (43) <fedora-43-primary@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: C6E7F081CF80E13146676E88829B606631645531
 From       : file:///usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-43-primary
The key was successfully imported.
Importing OpenPGP key 0x6D9F90A6:
 UserID     : "Fedora (44) <fedora-44-primary@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: 36F612DCF27F7D1A48A835E4DBFCF71C6D9F90A6
 From       : file:///usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-44-primary
The key was successfully imported.
Importing OpenPGP key 0xF577861E:
 UserID     : "Fedora (45) <fedora-45-primary@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: 4F50A6114CD5C6976A7F1179655A4B02F577861E
 From       : file:///usr/share/distribution-gpg-keys/fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-45-primary
The key was successfully imported.
[ 1/10] Verify package files                                                                                           100% | 258.0   B/s |   8.0   B |  00m00s
>>> Running %pretrans scriptlet: filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64
>>> Finished %pretrans scriptlet: filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64
>>> [RPM] private mounts in chroot not implemented
[ 2/10] Prepare transaction                                                                                            100% | 444.0   B/s |   8.0   B |  00m00s
[ 3/10] Installing fedora-release-identity-basic-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                       100% |   0.0   B/s | 920.0   B |  00m00s
[ 4/10] Installing fedora-repos-rawhide-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                100% |   2.4 MiB/s |   2.4 KiB |  00m00s
[ 5/10] Installing fedora-gpg-keys-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                     100% |  17.5 MiB/s | 179.0 KiB |  00m00s
[ 6/10] Installing fedora-repos-0:44-0.1.noarch                                                                        100% |   0.0   B/s |   5.7 KiB |  00m00s
[ 7/10] Installing fedora-release-common-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                               100% |  12.1 MiB/s |  24.9 KiB |  00m00s
[ 8/10] Installing fedora-release-0:44-0.3.noarch                                                                      100% | 166.0   B/s | 124.0   B |  00m01s
>>> Running sysusers scriptlet: setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch
>>> Finished sysusers scriptlet: setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch
>>> Scriptlet output:
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/sbin/halt'
>>> useradd warning: nobody's uid 65534 is greater than SYS_UID_MAX 999
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/bin/bash'
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/sbin/shutdown'
>>> useradd: Warning: missing or non-executable shell '/bin/sync'
>>>
[ 9/10] Installing setup-0:2.15.0-26.fc43.noarch                                                                       100% |  15.9 MiB/s | 730.6 KiB |  00m00s
[10/10] Installing filesystem-0:3.18-50.fc43.x86_64                                                                    100% |   1.5 MiB/s | 212.8 KiB |  00m00s
Complete!
‣  Generating system users
‣ + systemd-sysusers --root=/buildroot
‣  Generating volatile files
‣ + systemd-tmpfiles --root=/buildroot --boot --create --remove --exclude-prefix=/tmp --exclude-prefix=/var/tmp --exclude-prefix=/run --exclude-prefix=/proc --exclude-prefix=/sys --exclude-prefix=/dev
‣  Applying presets…
‣ + systemctl --root=/buildroot preset-all
‣ + systemctl --root=/buildroot --global preset-all
‣  Generating hardware database
‣ + systemd-hwdb --root=/buildroot --usr --strict update
No hwdb files found, skipping.
‣ + kernel-install --help
‣ + kernel-install --version
‣ Version reported by kernel-install is 258-4-arch
‣ + kernel-install --root=/buildroot --json=pretty inspect
‣ {
    "MachineID": "db16f40b2dcb42069f3f515315ec62b2",
    "KernelImageType": "unknown",
    "Layout": "bls",
    "BootRoot": "boot",
    "EntryTokenType": "os-id",
    "EntryToken": "fedora",
    "EntryDirectory": "boot/fedora/KERNEL_VERSION",
    "KernelVersion": null,
    "Kernel": null,
    "Initrds": null,
    "InitrdGenerator": null,
    "UKIGenerator": null,
    "Plugins": null,
    "PluginEnvironment": [
        "LC_COLLATE=C.UTF-8",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_VERBOSE=0",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_IMAGE_TYPE=unknown",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_MACHINE_ID=db16f40b2dcb42069f3f515315ec62b2",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_ENTRY_TOKEN=fedora",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_BOOT_ROOT=boot",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_LAYOUT=bls",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_INITRD_GENERATOR=",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_UKI_GENERATOR=",
        "KERNEL_INSTALL_STAGING_AREA=/tmp/kernel-install.staging.XXXXXX"
    ]
}
‣  /home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar size is 4.1M.
‣ + rm -rf -- /work/var/tmp/mkosi-workspace-f5tqzkw8
‣ + tput cnorm
‣ + tput smam

and

cat /home/masber/mkosi_conf/foobar/etc/os-release
NAME="Fedora Linux"
VERSION="44 (Rawhide Prerelease)"
RELEASE_TYPE=development
ID=fedora
VERSION_ID=44
VERSION_CODENAME=""
PRETTY_NAME="Fedora Linux 44 (Rawhide Prerelease)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;38;2;60;110;180"
LOGO=fedora-logo-icon
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:44"
DEFAULT_HOSTNAME="fedora"
HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/rawhide/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://ask.fedoraproject.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=rawhide
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Fedora"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=rawhide
SUPPORT_END=2026-12-02

I really don't understand what is going on

[Masber]

summary:
This command creates a main image based on host distro (Arch):

sudo mkosi -d fedora --format directory -o foobar -f --debug build

This command creates a main image based on fedora (same distro as specified in mkosi cli command):

sudo mkosi -d fedora --format directory -o foobar -f --debug --directory= build

Both commands use an empty configuration but the second command use --directory=

Why?

[DaanDeMeyer]

sudo mkosi -d fedora --format directory -o foobar -f --debug cat-config

This does not build an image for me, it just shows the config as cat-config implies. I'm not sure why you think this is building an image but it is not.

[Masber]

the cat-config is a typo, it should be build. I have fixed the command...