Perfect!.....Thanks for the info. have a good safe 2021!

Hello guys --- I wanted to update this post just to have closure...
Again thank you so much for advice and support....

Long story short I could not get around the compression problem with Ubuntu....
So, with Ubuntu what we did was take the "Snapshot without" crypt-setup, and then later  I used  a tool called "Cubic" to update the ISO.
https://launchpad.net/cubic
And that was problem solved.

But....I am glad I came here, because the work you guys have done and the  freedom you offer speaks volumes. 
I think a lot of folks just don't understand just how much systemd touches so many things... 

Who knows maybe I can convince my community, and team to be open to a Devuan base  
I hear OpenRc may be the init to use though....is that true I am really ignorant on that subject..?

Again.... thank you!

Thank you so much! for the advice I think I will
Try changing the compression to gzip. and give it ago...

If that does not work then I will  update the script to include lz4 compression.
I will update this post, with the results. and what I did when it is all said and done .;)

@fsmithred - here is the result of file -L /boot/initrd.img
 

Also I did as you suggested I ran snapshot  with JUST cryptsetup installed and NOT calamares the result is the same.
Here is the terminal output from debug mode.
 

Do you want the whole log, file? if so I emailed it to.

@HevyDevy - Yep it is in the same location -

@fsmithred – thanks! For the help.
Let me preface this as using snapshot with the refracta-installer  everything works as expected.

Version of SnapShot being used:
refractasnapshot-base_10.2.10_all.deb
refractasnapshot-gui_10.2.10_all.deb

Operating System environments tested:
Ubuntu 20.04
Debian 10 (Buster)
Both running in Virtual Box

The problem below happens on both distros with the  exact same error log

Problem:
I want to take a “snapshot” of my build, however I want to use “calamares” as the installer.
I also want to use the  “calamares-settings-debian (10.0.20-1+deb10u3)“ package for my installer setup.
That package is located here: https://packages.debian.org/stable/cala … ngs-debian
Now…. these settings install on both distros listed above and run with no problem, and the settings work just fine with calamares.

***NOTE:  Before setting up  calamares with the “calamares-settings-debian” package I ran snapshot  and it completed successfully using the “01 Create a snapshot” option***

After setting up calamares and then applying the “calamares-settings-debian” package snapshot does Not complete.  It errors out with the following error:

+ [[ -n '' ]]
+ '[' yes = yes ']'
+ clean_initrd
+ extract_initrd
+ mkdir /tmp/extracted
+ pushd /tmp/extracted
++ egrep -o 'gzip compressed|XZ compressed|cpio archive'
++ file -L /boot/initrd.img
+ COMPRESSION='cpio archive'
+ '[' 'cpio archive' = 'gzip compressed' ']'
+ '[' 'cpio archive' = 'XZ compressed' ']'
+ '[' 'cpio archive' = 'cpio archive' ']'
+ echo 'Archive is cpio archive...'
+ cpio -i
62 blocks
+ cpio -i
+ zcat

gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
cpio: premature end of archive
+ exit_code=2
+ '[' 2 -ne 0 ']'
+ cpio -i
cpio: kernel/x86/microcode/AuthenticAMD.bin not created: newer or same age version exists
62 blocks
+ cpio -i
+ xzcat
xzcat: (stdin): File format not recognized
cpio: premature end of archive
+ exit_code=2
+ '[' 2 -ne 0 ']'
+ echo 'Decompression error'
+ exit 1

Looking through the snapshot script I have been able to find where it is interrupted, that is in this snippet:

extract_initrd () {

	mkdir /tmp/extracted
	pushd /tmp/extracted

	COMPRESSION=$(file -L "$initrd_image" | egrep -o 'gzip compressed|XZ compressed|cpio archive')

	if [ "$COMPRESSION" = "gzip compressed" ]; then
		echo "Archive is gzip compressed..."
		zcat "$initrd_image" | cpio -i

	elif [ "$COMPRESSION" = "XZ compressed" ]; then
		echo "Archive is XZ compressed..."
		xzcat "$initrd_image" | cpio -d -i -m

	elif [ "$COMPRESSION" = "cpio archive" ]; then
		echo "Archive is cpio archive..."
		(cpio -i ; zcat | cpio -i) < "$initrd_image"
		exit_code="$?"
		if [ "$exit_code" -ne 0 ] ; then
			(cpio -i ; xzcat | cpio -i) < "$initrd_image"
			exit_code="$?"
			if [ "$exit_code" -ne 0 ] ; then
				echo "Decompression error" && exit 1
			else
				COMPRESSION="XZ compressed"
			fi
		else
			COMPRESSION="gzip compressed"
		fi
		
		echo "COMPRESSION is $COMPRESSION"

	else
		echo "Decompession error..." && exit 1
	fi

	popd

	echo "Initrd is extracted"

}

Now…..I know what is causing this issue but I am not sure how to resolve it.
Back to the “calamares-settings-debian” package:
https://packages.debian.org/stable/cala … ngs-debian
one of the dependencies is  cryptsetup  a dummy package that installs cryptsetup-initramfs and cryptsetup-run that is causing snapshot to stop,

So I uninstalled cryptsetup and ran snapshot and it completed no problem, but now the calamares installation in the iso, does not complete because cryptsetup is not found.
Of course I want to use cryptsetup, because of LUKS for encryption, for the sake of installation I want to keep it around,

Which brings be  to my question,  the error that gets thrown is a decompression error  is there an additional command I can use to get past decompression because it seems to be using gzip, XZ, or cpio.
Or am I all wrong about how I am using cryptsetup?

Other reference links:
https://packages.debian.org/buster/cryptsetup
https://packages.debian.org/buster/cryptsetup-initramfs
https://packages.debian.org/buster/cryptsetup-run