2026.1: Two tests fail on `OSTree:ERROR:src/libostree/ostree-kernel-args.c:197:split_kernel_args: 'quoted' should be FALSE`

[dvzrv]

Hi! 👋

When trying to build 2026.1 as a package for Arch Linux I ran into two failing tests

[..]
ERROR: tests/test-admin-deploy-karg.sh - Bail out! OSTree:ERROR:src/libostree/ostree-kernel-args.c:197:split_kernel_args: 'quoted' should be FALSE
[..]
ERROR: tests/test-admin-instutil-set-kargs.sh - Bail out! OSTree:ERROR:src/libostree/ostree-kernel-args.c:197:split_kernel_args: 'quoted' should be FALSE
[..]

Full build and check log:

ostree-2026.1-1-x86_64-build.log
ostree-2026.1-1-x86_64-check.log

test-suite.log

test-suite.log

[jmarrero]

Thanks for the report, this looks like a valid bug but is not only on 2026.1, I was able to reproduce on 2025.7.

Our CI/test has a gap in these tests since they read the real /proc/cmdline from the build host, meaning the test outcome depends entirely on the build environment rather than being deterministic.

I think the bug was likely introduced in commit abc7d5b ("kargs: parse spaces in kargs input and keep quotes", March 2024, first released in v2024.5).

Working on a fix and will add a kola test that explicitly injects a quoted karg so this is tested deterministically going forward.

Here is my reproducer on 2025.7:

[root@localhost ~]# rpm-ostree kargs --append='testparam="value with spaces"'
Staging deployment... done
Changes queued for next boot. Run "systemctl reboot" to start a reboot
[root@localhost ~]# systemctl reboot
[root@localhost ~]# Connection to 127.0.0.1 closed by remote host.

[root@localhost ~]# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,gpt3)/boot/ostree/default-f2cfab21dd0eae233c4f471d8c290c041055cd64adb0fb5156753b296775acd4/vmlinuz-5.14.0-691.el9.x86_64 root=UUID=371b6ee5-ad7c-4119-89d0-a75e6545c5f8 rw ostree=/ostree/boot.0/default/f2cfab21dd0eae233c4f471d8c290c041055cd64adb0fb5156753b296775acd4/0 "testparam=value with spaces"

[root@localhost ~]# rpm-ostree kargs
root=UUID=371b6ee5-ad7c-4119-89d0-a75e6545c5f8 rw ostree=/ostree/boot.0/default/f2cfab21dd0eae233c4f471d8c290c041055cd64adb0fb5156753b296775acd4/0 testparam="value with spaces"

[root@localhost ~]# ostree --version
libostree:
 Version: '2025.7'
 Git: v2025.7
 Features:
  - inode64
  - initial-var
  - libcurl
  - gpgme
  - composefs
  - ex-fsverity
  - libarchive
  - selinux
  - openssl
  - sign-ed25519
  - sign-spki
  - libmount
  - systemd
  - release
  - p2p

[root@localhost ~]# ostree admin instutil set-kargs --import-proc-cmdline
**
OSTree:ERROR:src/libostree/ostree-kernel-args.c:197:split_kernel_args: 'quoted' should be FALSE
Bail out! OSTree:ERROR:src/libostree/ostree-kernel-args.c:197:split_kernel_args: 'quoted' should be FALSE
Aborted (core dumped)
[root@localhost ~]#