I cloned your repo, installed the build-deps and built packages in beowulf with no problems using dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -b

I'm trying to install ceres in a chroot right now, and it's going to take an hour to install git. I don't know wtf the problem is. It normally would take about one minute. I'll get back to you on that.

Edit: The same works for me in chimaera.

I got an ubuntu iso (20.04.1-desktop)
Booted it in qemu and used unmkinitramfs to unpack it into an empty directory.
Re-packed it as gzip with find . -print0 | cpio -0 -H newc -o | gzip -c > ../initrd.img-custom
I then unpacked the custom initrd to verify that the amd64 microcode was still there. It was.

Note 1: I chose gzip because the command was easier to type than xz, and I did not attempt to figure out the correct lz4 command. I just wanted to make sure the microcode didn't get lost.

Note 2: Since it was a live session, there were only dead symlinks in /boot, so I used /cdrom/casper/initrd for the extraction.

Edit: Yup. ^^^

So, you can either change the compression to a supported type as I mentioned above, or you can manually unpack the initrd, remove crypttab, repack it and replace /home/work/iso/live/initrd.img with the modified copy, then re-run refractasnapshot and just select the option to re-run xorriso. You must have set save_work=yes in the config file for this to work.

If you keep the lz4 and do the manual re-pack, your users may run into the same problem if they try to make a snapshot on an encrypted system.

The kernel does not get upgraded automatically unless you have the kernel metapackage installed - linux-image-amd64 (or other arch).  Either install that or install the specific kernel package you want.

I have linux-image-5.6.0-2-amd64 in chimaera, and I think that's the latest.

You already have the only line for chimaera in your sources.list. There won't be any -updates or -security repos until after chimaera goes stable (or maybe after bullseye goes stable).

Then do this...

file -L /boot/initrd.img

or run 'file' on whatever actual file you use for initramfs.

Setting initrd_crypt=yes without cryptsetup installed won't put cryptsetup in the initrramfs like it's meant to do.

What error messages are you getting and when?
Have you tried running snapshot with cryptsetup installed but calamares-settings removed?
If refractasnapshot is failing, I'd like to see the error log. If you're using the cli version, please run it in debug mode (sudo refractasnapshot -d). It'll be too big to post here. You can email it or paste it at paste.debian.net

I am unable to reproduce the problem. I tried with and without calamares-settings-debian and refractasnapshot ran both times. I also tried with initrd_crypt=yes in refractasnapshot.conf. Are you using a custom kernel and initrd? Also tried with intel-microcode and then amd64-microcode installed.

Please post the output of this command.

file -L /initrd.img

Sometimes questions about refracta tools appear in the Derivatives section, sometimes in DIY and sometimes in Installation. You have my attention, so right here will also work.

Here's the documentation for it:
https://refracta.org/docs/readme.refractasnapshot.txt
https://refracta.org/docs/refractasnapshot.conf.txt
https://refracta.org/docs/snapshot_exclude.list.txt

You can load it to ram when you boot from dvd or usb. If you must run from dvd, I strongly suggest that you boot it to ram. It takes a lot longer to boot that way, but then it responds much faster while you are using it. Running from usb is almost as fast as running from hard drive, so you might not feel the need to boot to ram.

Running a program in firejail prevents the program from accessing any directories that are not specified in the profile for that program. For example, my firefox can only see the Downloads directory. I cannot access any other files in my home from within firefox, and neither can any of the websites I visit.

deb10u1 in the version means first revision for debian 10, which is buster, which is also beowulf. Decide whether you're running ascii or beowulf and stick to one. Let us know what you put in sources.list.d, too.

I sometimes do the opposite and search for debian when I want devuan, because there's a better chance of getting useful hits on a lot of topics.

I can't give you a time estimate on when or if s6 will be a choice during installation. I've heard nothing about it in months.

The point-release of beowulf will add runit to the init system selection in the installer. Maybe s6 can be added in time for Chimaera. That's a guess.

Boot with live-iso, shrink the /boot partition and make a new partition. Do not format the new partition with a filesystem. (Unformatted is the last choice in gparted's dropdown list of formats.) Give it bios_grub flag (or type ef02 if you use gdisk).

You need at least 1MB for the bios_grub partition. I usually give it 2MB so I don't have to worry about what kind of MB I'm using.