Cannot build Arch Linux image about distrobuilder HOT 4 CLOSED

As discussed per IRC, it was a DNS issue.

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Posting some more details here in case someone else hits the same problem.

Building a (highly customized) Arch Linux virtual machine ARM image on a (highly customized) Arch Linux ARM host, I also had similar DNS issues where, in distrobuilder's package refresh step, I get pacman errors saying "Could not resolve host: mirror.archlinuxarm.org". A chroot into the partially-built VM image folder can ping IP addresses, but could not resolve domain names.

As it turns out, distrobuilder creates a bind mount of the host's /etc/resolv.conf in the image folder's /etc/resolv.conf before distrobuilder sets up its own chroot in the image folder, thus everything that distrobuilder does from that point on uses the host's DNS settings as defined in the host's /etc/resolv.conf. That means the host's /etc/resolv.conf must work for the image as well, at least while distrobuilder is still building the image.

A simple solution is adding a nameserver line on the host's /etc/resolv.conf pointing to a working DNS server (e.g. nameserver 8.8.8.8).

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@grawlinson , yes Archlinux installation requires you to setup many things if in manual mode. If you use DHCP, it's less painful

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