makeInitrd{,NG}: drop legacy U‐Boot image support

Now that ARMv5 no longer uses `uImage`, there’s no point in keeping around support for this deprecated format that the rest of the NixOS infrastructure doesn’t handle. Modern U‐Boot setups should not be affected in any way by this.
2026-06-05 21:03:40 +00:00 · 2025-06-25 13:08:36 +01:00
parent 0c19eb3e55
commit 38dec9fcff
5 changed files with 21 additions and 67 deletions
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2611.section.md
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@

 - `boot.vesa` has been removed. It was deprecated in 2020 because Xorg now works better with kernel modesetting. If you still need the legacy VESA 800x600 fallback, set `boot.kernelParams = [ "vga=0x317" "nomodeset" ];` directly.

+- Support for the legacy U‐Boot image format has been removed from the initrd generators, as it is deprecated upstream and no longer used by any platform in Nixpkgs.
+
 - Python 2 has been removed from the top-level package set, as it is long past end-of-life. The `python2`, `python27`, `python2Full`, `python27Full`, `python2Packages`, and `python27Packages` attributes, along with the legacy `python`, `pythonFull`, and `pythonPackages` aliases, now throw an error directing you to `python3`. The `isPy2` and `isPy27` package flags have been removed accordingly. The only remaining Python 2 interpreter is vendored inside the `resholve` package for its `oil` dependency and is not exposed for general use.

 ## Other Notable Changes {#sec-release-26.11-notable-changes}
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/initrd-compressor-meta.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/initrd-compressor-meta.nix
@@ -1,18 +1,15 @@
 rec {
  cat = {
    executable = pkgs: "cat";
-    ubootName = "none";
    extension = ".cpio";
  };
  gzip = {
    executable = pkgs: "${pkgs.gzip}/bin/gzip";
    defaultArgs = [ "-9n" ];
-    ubootName = "gzip";
    extension = ".gz";
  };
  bzip2 = {
    executable = pkgs: "${pkgs.bzip2}/bin/bzip2";
-    ubootName = "bzip2";
    extension = ".bz2";
  };
  xz = {
@@ -29,24 +26,20 @@ rec {
      "--check=crc32"
      "--lzma1=dict=512KiB"
    ];
-    ubootName = "lzma";
    extension = ".lzma";
  };
  lz4 = {
    executable = pkgs: "${pkgs.lz4}/bin/lz4";
    defaultArgs = [ "-l" ];
-    ubootName = "lz4";
    extension = ".lz4";
  };
  lzop = {
    executable = pkgs: "${pkgs.lzop}/bin/lzop";
-    ubootName = "lzo";
    extension = ".lzo";
  };
  zstd = {
    executable = pkgs: "${pkgs.zstd}/bin/zstd";
    defaultArgs = [ "-10" ];
-    ubootName = "zstd";
    extension = ".zst";
  };
  pigz = gzip // {
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd-ng.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd-ng.nix
@@ -4,14 +4,13 @@ let
  # from it.
  compressors = import ./initrd-compressor-meta.nix;
  # Get the basename of the actual compression program from the whole
-  # compression command, for the purpose of guessing the u-boot
+  # compression command, for the purpose of guessing the
  # compression type and filename extension.
  compressorName = fullCommand: builtins.elemAt (builtins.match "([^ ]*/)?([^ ]+).*" fullCommand) 1;
 in
 {
  stdenvNoCC,
  cpio,
-  ubootTools,
  lib,
  pkgsBuildHost,
  makeInitrdNGTool,
@@ -57,22 +56,13 @@ in
  # symlinks to store paths.
  prepend ? [ ],

-  # Whether to wrap the initramfs in a u-boot image.
-  makeUInitrd ? stdenvNoCC.hostPlatform.linux-kernel.target == "uImage",
-
-  # If generating a u-boot image, the architecture to use. The default
-  # guess may not align with u-boot's nomenclature correctly, so it can
-  # be overridden.
-  # See https://gitlab.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/blob/9bfb567e5f1bfe7de8eb41f8c6d00f49d2b9a426/common/image.c#L81-106 for a list.
-  uInitrdArch ? stdenvNoCC.hostPlatform.ubootArch,
-
-  # The name of the compression, as recognised by u-boot.
-  # See https://gitlab.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/blob/9bfb567e5f1bfe7de8eb41f8c6d00f49d2b9a426/common/image.c#L195-204 for a list.
-  # If this isn't guessed, you may want to complete the metadata above and send a PR :)
-  uInitrdCompression ?
-    _compressorMeta.ubootName
-      or (throw "Unrecognised compressor ${_compressorName}, please specify uInitrdCompression"),
+  # Deprecated; remove in 27.05.
+  makeUInitrd ? null,
+  uInitrdArch ? null,
+  uInitrdCompression ? null,
 }:
+assert lib.assertMsg (makeUInitrd == null && uInitrdArch == null && uInitrdCompression == null)
+  "makeInitrdNg: U‐Boot legacy image support has been removed as it is deprecated upstream and ARMv5 kernels no longer default to uImage";
 stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  __structuredAttrs = true;

@@ -83,11 +73,8 @@ stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  inherit
    name
    extension
-    makeUInitrd
-    uInitrdArch
    prepend
    ;
-  ${if makeUInitrd then "uInitrdCompression" else null} = uInitrdCompression;

  compress = "${_compressorExecutable} ${lib.escapeShellArgs _compressorArgsReal}";
  contentsJSON = builtins.toJSON contents;
@@ -95,8 +82,7 @@ stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  nativeBuildInputs = [
    makeInitrdNGTool
    cpio
-  ]
-  ++ lib.optional makeUInitrd ubootTools;
+  ];

  buildCommand = ''
    mkdir -p ./root/{run,tmp,var/empty}
@@ -109,13 +95,7 @@ stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
    done
    (cd root && find . -print0 | sort -z | cpio --quiet -o -H newc -R +0:+0 --reproducible --null | eval -- $compress >> "$out/initrd")

-    if [ -n "$makeUInitrd" ]; then
-      mkimage -A "$uInitrdArch" -O linux -T ramdisk -C "$uInitrdCompression" -d "$out/initrd" $out/initrd.img
-      # Compatibility symlink
-      ln -sf "initrd.img" "$out/initrd"
-    else
-      ln -s "initrd" "$out/initrd$extension"
-    fi
+    ln -s "initrd" "$out/initrd$extension"
  '';

  passthru = {
--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.nix
@@ -10,18 +10,16 @@
 # of algorithms.
 let
  # Some metadata on various compression programs, relevant to naming
-  # the initramfs file and, if applicable, generating a u-boot image
-  # from it.
+  # the initramfs file.
  compressors = import ./initrd-compressor-meta.nix;
  # Get the basename of the actual compression program from the whole
-  # compression command, for the purpose of guessing the u-boot
+  # compression command, for the purpose of guessing the
  # compression type and filename extension.
  compressorName = fullCommand: builtins.elemAt (builtins.match "([^ ]*/)?([^ ]+).*" fullCommand) 1;
 in
 {
  stdenvNoCC,
  cpio,
-  ubootTools,
  lib,
  pkgsBuildHost,
  # Name of the derivation (not of the resulting file!)
@@ -65,22 +63,13 @@ in
  # symlinks to store paths.
  prepend ? [ ],

-  # Whether to wrap the initramfs in a u-boot image.
-  makeUInitrd ? stdenvNoCC.hostPlatform.linux-kernel.target or "dummy" == "uImage",
-
-  # If generating a u-boot image, the architecture to use. The default
-  # guess may not align with u-boot's nomenclature correctly, so it can
-  # be overridden.
-  # See https://gitlab.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/blob/9bfb567e5f1bfe7de8eb41f8c6d00f49d2b9a426/common/image.c#L81-106 for a list.
-  uInitrdArch ? stdenvNoCC.hostPlatform.linuxArch,
-
-  # The name of the compression, as recognised by u-boot.
-  # See https://gitlab.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/blob/9bfb567e5f1bfe7de8eb41f8c6d00f49d2b9a426/common/image.c#L195-204 for a list.
-  # If this isn't guessed, you may want to complete the metadata above and send a PR :)
-  uInitrdCompression ?
-    _compressorMeta.ubootName
-      or (throw "Unrecognised compressor ${_compressorName}, please specify uInitrdCompression"),
+  # Deprecated; remove in 27.05.
+  makeUInitrd ? null,
+  uInitrdArch ? null,
+  uInitrdCompression ? null,
 }:
+assert lib.assertMsg (makeUInitrd == null && uInitrdArch == null && uInitrdCompression == null)
+  "makeInitrd: U‐Boot legacy image support has been removed as it is deprecated upstream and ARMv5 kernels no longer default to uImage";
 stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  __structuredAttrs = true;

@@ -91,18 +80,14 @@ stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
  inherit
    name
    extension
-    makeUInitrd
-    uInitrdArch
    prepend
    ;
-  ${if makeUInitrd then "uInitrdCompression" else null} = uInitrdCompression;

  builder = ./make-initrd.sh;

  nativeBuildInputs = [
    cpio
-  ]
-  ++ lib.optional makeUInitrd ubootTools;
+  ];

  compress = "${_compressorExecutable} ${lib.escapeShellArgs _compressorArgsReal}";

--- a/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/kernel/make-initrd.sh
@@ -36,10 +36,4 @@ done
 (cd root && find * .[^.*] -exec touch -h -d '@1' '{}' +)
 (cd root && find * .[^.*] -print0 | sort -z | cpio --quiet -o -H newc -R +0:+0 --reproducible --null | eval -- $compress >> "$out/initrd")

-if [ -n "$makeUInitrd" ]; then
-  mkimage -A "$uInitrdArch" -O linux -T ramdisk -C "$uInitrdCompression" -d "$out/initrd" $out/initrd.img
-  # Compatibility symlink
-  ln -sf "initrd.img" "$out/initrd"
-else
-  ln -s "initrd" "$out/initrd$extension"
-fi
+ln -s "initrd" "$out/initrd$extension"