We used to create a base_image_var.conf tmpfiles config file that
contained information about directories under /var that weren't
covered by any other tmpfiles config file. Recently some package
update started installing a directory under /var that belonged to a
user/group not found directly in passwd/group file in /etc. This
user/group was defined in passwd/group in /usr/share/baselayout, but
at the early boot, these are not yet checked for user/group
information, so systemd-tmpfiles running inside initrd failed when
trying to create such an entry using the base_image_var.conf tmpfiles
config file.
Split the base_image_var.conf into two files - base_image_var.conf and
base_image_var_late.conf. The former will only contain entries owned
by user/group that are supposed to exist very early in the boot, while
the latter will contain the rest of directories - those will be
created later during the boot.