Cannot mount another writable directory

[anta40]

Description

I'm on MacOS Monterey 12.7.1 (x64) with lima 0.19.0 installed via Homebrew.

This is my Debian 12 VM config:

images:
  # Try to use release-yyyyMMdd image if available. Note that release-yyyyMMdd will be removed after several months.
  - location: "https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/20231013-1532/debian-12-genericcloud-amd64-20231013-1532.qcow2"
    arch: "x86_64"
    digest: "sha512:6b55e88b027c14da1b55c85a25a9f7069d4560a8fdb2d948c986a585db469728a06d2c528303e34bb62d8b2984def38fd9ddfc00965846ff6e05b01d6e883bfe"
  - location: "https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/20231013-1532/debian-12-genericcloud-arm64-20231013-1532.qcow2"
    arch: "aarch64"
    digest: "sha512:b3754e8c4b474fad2f0bb6d483158cc8e6661cf481dcd7a8c55cc128acb4cd2d829d4afe024462ae45028f33ab977d69737d820c8f6c56800cc133cdcfb5874d"
  # Fallback to the latest release image.
  # Hint: run `limactl prune` to invalidate the cache
  - location: "https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-genericcloud-amd64.qcow2"
    arch: "x86_64"
  - location: "https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-genericcloud-arm64.qcow2"
    arch: "aarch64"
mounts:
  - location: "~"
  - location: "/tmp/lima"
  - location: "/Users/anta40/lima-sandbox"
    writable: true

Running limactl start debian-12 gave this output:

INFO[0000] Using the existing instance "debian-12"
INFO[0000] Starting the instance "debian-12" with VM driver "qemu"
INFO[0000] QEMU binary "/usr/local/bin/qemu-system-x86_64" seems properly signed with the "com.apple.security.hypervisor" entitlement
INFO[0003] [hostagent] hostagent socket created at /Users/anta40/.lima/debian-12/ha.sock
INFO[0004] [hostagent] Starting QEMU (hint: to watch the boot progress, see "/Users/anta40/.lima/debian-12/serial*.log")
INFO[0004] SSH Local Port: 49225
INFO[0004] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 1 of 4: "ssh"
INFO[0023] [hostagent] The essential requirement 1 of 4 is satisfied
INFO[0023] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 2 of 4: "user session is ready for ssh"
INFO[0036] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 2 of 4: "user session is ready for ssh"
INFO[0036] [hostagent] The essential requirement 2 of 4 is satisfied
INFO[0036] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 3 of 4: "sshfs binary to be installed"
INFO[0036] [hostagent] The essential requirement 3 of 4 is satisfied
INFO[0036] [hostagent] Waiting for the essential requirement 4 of 4: "/etc/fuse.conf (/etc/fuse3.conf) to contain \"user_allow_other\""
INFO[0036] [hostagent] The essential requirement 4 of 4 is satisfied
INFO[0036] [hostagent] Mounting "/Users/anta40" on "/Users/anta40"
INFO[0036] [hostagent] Mounting "/tmp/lima" on "/tmp/lima"
INFO[0036] [hostagent] Mounting "/Users/anta40/lima-sandbox" on "/Users/anta40/lima-sandbox"
INFO[0037] [hostagent] fusermount3: user has no write access to mountpoint /Users/anta40/lima-sandbox
WARN[0068] [hostagent] failed to confirm whether /Users/anta40/lima-sandbox [remote] is successfully mounted
INFO[0068] [hostagent] Waiting for the optional requirement 1 of 2: "systemd must be available"

How to make lima able to write on /Users/anta40/lima-sandbox?

[afbjorklund]

How to make lima able to write on /Users/anta40/lima-sandbox?

Either choose another mount point, like /tmp/lima. Or make it writable?

[anta40]

Either choose another mount point, like /tmp/lima. Or make it writable?

Umm it's already writeable (created with a mkdir).
It's the same folder used by Debian when I use the older Lim. I still can see all my stuffs (C codes, Linux binaries etc) inside. Unfortunately I wiped my lima directory before upgrading, but most likely the config is correct.

[afbjorklund]

I meant to make /Users/anta40 writeable, so that the mount point can be created.

[AkihiroSuda]

lima/cmd/limactl/editflags/editflags.go

Line 44 in b4ae640

flags.StringSlice("mount", nil, commentPrefix+"directories to mount, suffix ':w' for writable (Do not specify directories that overlap with the existing mounts)") // colima-compatible

Mount directories must not overlap currently, so you have to remove the mount for ~, or just make ~ writable.

[anta40]

Yep, need to underline this: Mount directories must not overlap currently.

[anta40]

Mount directories must not overlap currently, so you have to remove the mount for ~, or just make ~ writable.

OK, how to make ~writeable?

[AkihiroSuda]

mounts:
  - location: "~"
    writable: true

[anta40]

Wait... I thought ~ refer to /Users/anta40. Let's check that:

anta40@lima-debian-12:~$ cd ~
anta40@lima-debian-12:~$ pwd
/home/anta40.linux

So, where's this /home/anta40.linux directory? BTW I still couldn't write files in /Users/anta40, e.g:

anta40@lima-debian-12:/Users/anta40$ cat blahblah.c
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void){
    return 999;
}
anta40@lima-debian-12:/Users/anta40$ make blahblah
cc     blahblah.c   -o blahblah
/usr/bin/ld: cannot open output file blahblah: Read-only file system
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [<builtin>: blahblah] Error 1

On the other side, no issue with writing files in /tmp/lima, though. e.g:

anta40@lima-debian-12:/tmp/lima$ ls
something.c
anta40@lima-debian-12:/tmp/lima$ cat something.c
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void){
        int aa = 10;
        int bb = 9;
        return (aa+bb);
}
anta40@lima-debian-12:/tmp/lima$ make something
cc     something.c   -o something
anta40@lima-debian-12:/tmp/lima$ file something
something: ELF 64-bit LSB pie executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, BuildID[sha1]=f8847b3192268d0b97b6814c7b3d7936c7cffa78, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, not stripped

[vasileknik76]

The mountpoint in the guest will be same as in the host. There is /Users/anta40 in your case. /home/anta40.linux is home directory for the guest and not mounted to the host

[anta40]

OK, so /home/anta40.linux isn't mounted on host. Got it.Now this is my Debian 12 config:

mounts:
  - location: "~"
  - location: "/tmp/lima"
    writable: true

And I still couldn't write anything on /Users/anta40 (read only). Perhaps I misunderstood something?

[jandubois]

It should look like this:

mounts:
- location: "~"
  writable: true
- location: "/tmp/lima"
  writable: true

[anta40]

It should look like this:

mounts:
- location: "~"
  writable: true
- location: "/tmp/lima"
  writable: true

Didn't work.

anta40@lima-debian-12:/Users/anta40$ echo "meow..." > meow.txt
bash: meow.txt: Read-only file system

And Lima gave warnings:

WARN[0001] [hostagent] Non-strict YAML is deprecated and will be unsupported in a future version of Lima
WARN[0001] [hostagent] Non-strict YAML is deprecated and will be unsupported in a future version of Lima

[AkihiroSuda]

Might be an indentation issue of the yaml (tab vs space, etc.)

[anta40]

Yeah indeed an indentation issue. Gotta retype that part carefully, and it worked. Case closed. Thank you :) :D