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On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:07 AM, Zac Medico <zmedico@g.o> wrote: |
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> On 09/15/2011 07:33 AM, Joost Roeleveld wrote: |
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> > The use for an initrd/initramfs/... will create an additional layer of |
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> > complexity a lot of us users are not really waiting for, especially as we |
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> are |
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> > not seeing any issues with our current systems. |
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> |
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> Like it or not, it's the simplest possible solution if you want separate |
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> /usr. The plan is to provide a minimal initramfs that won't contain any |
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> modules, so it won't have to be rebuilt for each kernel. See the "/usr |
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> vs. initramfs redux" thread: |
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> |
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> |
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It should be noted that the alternative is to use a more full-featured |
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initramfs like dracut, which will also be updated to support mounting /usr |
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(it already parses /etc/fstab to remount root anyway). |
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The minimal initramfs will not contain mdadm or lvm tools, so it is |
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basically suitable for booting systems that don't currently require an |
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initramfs. Of course, something like dracut is more likely to require you |
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to rebuild the initramfs every time you update your kernel, and won't simply |
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be a static image like the simplified one. |
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The simplified initramfs could be compiled into the kernel as Zac suggests |
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(this is probably the most foolproof method), or it could be loaded from |
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/boot using the appropriate grub settings. |
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Note that dracut does drop you to a shell if it fails (this is |
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configurable), but by default this shell is dash, not bash. No doubt it |
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would work fine either way, but bash is likely to be a little slower. I |
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don't think RAM use is likely to be a problem - it should be completely |
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de-allocated before init runs. |
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