Current situation

modprobe erofs fails on Flatcar stable 4152.2.1 because the EROFS kernel module is not included.

Impact

I can’t use EROFS to package applications for use with systemd’s RootImage=, so I continue to use Squashfs for this. I’d be interested in switching Miniserver to EROFS, but Squashfs works fine.

Squashfs was designed in the age of live cds, but we are now in the age where applications are being distributed as filesystem images. EROFS seems more aligned for this use case, and in general seems to align well with Flatcar’s use case.

There are some downsides:

• Adding a kernel module increases the size of the root filesystem, which may not be worth the overhead.
• Adding a kernel module increases attack surface.

I’m opening this issue partially to gauge interest, to see if interest outweighs these downsides.

Ideal future situation

modprobe erofs succeeds.