vminit: replace initramfs with erofs rootfs

[dmcgowan]

Replace the gzip-compressed CPIO initramfs with an EROFS block device image as the VM root filesystem, eliminating the tmpfs switch_root that was required to make pivot_root available to containers.

The kernel boots directly into the erofs image on /dev/vda via 'root=/dev/vda rootfstype=erofs ro init=/sbin/vminitd', removing the initramfs decompression which contributed significantly to kernel boot time.

Build changes:

• Dockerfile: replace cpio/gzip initrd-build stage with erofs-build stage using mkfs.erofs -zlz4; vminitd placed at /sbin/vminitd
• docker-bake.hcl, Makefile: rename initrd target to rootfs

Host shim changes:

• instance.go: search for nerdbox-rootfs.erofs; add it as the first virtio-blk device in NewInstance so it is always /dev/vda; pass the erofs boot cmdline to krun_set_kernel with no initrd
• krun.go: change SetKernel's initramfs parameter to unsafe.Pointer so that an empty string maps to a C null pointer (purego converts an empty Go string to a non-null pointer, causing libkrun to fail)
• mount.go: start diskAllocator at 'b' since /dev/vda is now the VM rootfs; container disks begin at /dev/vdb

Guest init changes:

• initd.go: replace with systemMounts that mounts proc, sysfs, cgroup2, run, tmp, and a tmpfs over /etc (so runtime writes such as resolv.conf succeed on the read-only erofs). /dev is omitted — CONFIG_DEVTMPFS_MOUNT=y mounts devtmpfs before init starts, and a redundant mount returns EBUSY on the block-device root.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Replaces the gzip CPIO initramfs with an EROFS block-device rootfs mounted as /dev/vda. The kernel now boots directly into the EROFS image (root=/dev/vda rootfstype=erofs ro init=/sbin/vminitd), avoiding the previous initramfs decompression + switch_root. Build, host shim, and guest init code are updated accordingly.

Changes:

• Build: replace initrd-build Dockerfile stage with erofs-build (mkfs.erofs -zlz4), and rename the bake target / Make rule / Taskfile entry from initrd to rootfs.
• Host shim: add the EROFS rootfs as the first virtio-blk disk (/dev/vda), shift container disk allocation to start at vdb, move dynamic mount targets to /run/mnt, and fix the libkrun SetKernel binding so that an empty initrd argument maps to a C NULL pointer.
• Guest init: drop the explicit devtmpfs mount (kernel auto-mounts it), mount a tmpfs over /etc so resolv.conf/hosts writes succeed on the read-only rootfs, fix a tmpsfs typo, and stop forcing NoPivot=true so runc honors the runtime option.

Reviewed changes

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Show a summary per file

File	Description
Dockerfile	Replaces the cpio/gzip initrd stage with an mkfs.erofs -zlz4 rootfs stage, lays out /sbin/vminitd, /sbin/crun, mount-point directories, and var/run -> /run.
docker-bake.hcl	Renames the initrd bake target to rootfs targeting the new erofs stage.
Makefile	Renames _output/nerdbox-initrd target to _output/nerdbox-rootfs.erofs and wires it to build:rootfs.
Taskfile.yml	Renames build:initrd to build:rootfs and updates descriptions.
README.md	Updates documented artifact name to nerdbox-rootfs.erofs.
internal/vm/libkrun/instance.go	Looks up nerdbox-rootfs.erofs, adds it as the first virtio-blk disk, stores rootfsPath, and boots with the new kernel cmdline and no initrd.
internal/vm/libkrun/krun.go	Changes SetKernel's initramfs to unsafe.Pointer so "" becomes a NULL C pointer.
internal/shim/task/mount.go	Starts the shared diskAllocator at 'b' (since vda is the VM rootfs) and moves bind/block VM mount targets to /run/mnt/....
internal/shim/task/mount_test.go	Updates expected disk IDs, device names, and mount paths to reflect vdb+ and /run/mnt.
internal/vminit/process/init.go	Uses p.NoPivotRoot instead of forcing NoPivot: true in runc.CreateOpts.
pkg/vminit/initd/initd.go	Restructures systemInit to return a single error, adds the DHCP renewer goroutine inside it, fixes the tmpfs source typo, replaces the explicit devtmpfs mount with a tmpfs-over-/etc mount, and logs system-init elapsed time.

Note (outside diff): .github/workflows/ci.yml:250-264 still references nerdbox-initrd (including file _output/nerdbox-initrd), and .github/workflows/benchmarks.yml:109 still labels the step "initrd and shim". CI will fail because the build no longer produces _output/nerdbox-initrd. These files are not part of this diff, but should be updated alongside this PR.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 15 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 19 out of 19 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.