Re: [gentoo-genkernel] [RFC] Genkernel4 and Geninitramfs plan

[Richard Yao]

On 09/09/2012 08:46 AM, Amadeusz Żołnowski wrote:
> As of my announcement post 20120901114601.4669.56900@localhost I present
> the plan for Genkernel4 and Geninitramfs.  I am waiting for your
> comments.
>
>
> Geninitramfs
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> Internal initramfs generator is going to be extracted from Genkernel3
> and named Geninitramfs.  It will live with its own life independently
> from Genkernel.  It will be quite simple:
>
> 1) Copy genkernel repository to new geninitramfs repository.
> 2) Remove kernel build parts from geninitramfs.
> 3) Replace "genkernel" name with "geninitramfs" in help, man page,
> config, and so on.
>
> Voilà!
>
> Geninitramfs is going to be extracted not earlier than Genkernel4 is
> usable with Dracut to avoid synchronization work between Geninitramfs
> and Genkernel3.

Why not develop the two in the same tree?

> Genkernel4
> ~~~~~~~~~~

I would prefer to call this genkernel 5 to avoid confusing people
familiar with the original genkernel 4.

> Genkernel4 is going to be rewritten from scratch in Bash4 and possibly
> with some help of Python if necessary.  Genkernel4 is going to:
>
> - build kernel, modules
> - build initramfs with Dracut or Geninitramfs (or possibly some other
>   tool in the future - initramfs-tools maybe?)
> - install kernel, modules, firmware and initramfs
> - add/remove boot manager entries
>
>
> Genkernel4 workflow
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> 01. List versions to (re)build
>
>     a) local versions
>
>     User with "list -l" argument lists versions installed in /usr/src and
>     puts star next to the one to which /usr/src/linux symlink links to.
>
>     b) remote versions
>
>     User with "list -r <version-mask>" argument lists versions at
>     kernel.org which could be downloaded and extracted to /usr/src.  Why
>     this option while gentoo-sources and others are installed by portage?
>     Because some people prefer that portage doesn't register kernel
>     sources in vdb.
>
> 02. Select version
>
>     a) local
>
>     User selects one of versions listed with "list -l" with arguments
>     "select -l <version>/<position of version on the list>".  The check
>     if sources still exist is done and the choice is remembered.
>
>     b) remote
>
>     User selects one of versions listed with "list -r" which doesn't
>     exist in /usr/src with arguments "select -r <version>/<position of
>     version on the list>".  It is checked if this particular version
>     could be downloaded and the choice is remembered.
>
> 03. Fetch sources if user has chosen "remote"
>
>     Tarball is fetched from kernel.org and extracted to /usr/src.
>
> 04. Setup sources
>
>     Symlink to selected (and fetched) sources is set.
>
> 05. Prepare sources
>
>     a) clean
>        - make mrproper
>
>     b) copy config
>
>     Config file is copied from previous version (/proc/config.gz) or from
>     location pointed by user.
>
> 06. Configure sources
>
>     - make oldconfig/silentoldconfig/defconfig/...
>     - make config/menuconfig/nconfig/... if user wants to
>
> 07. Build kernel and modules
>
>     Runs "make" with CFLAGS, LDFLAGS, and JOBS given by user (in
>     config file).
>
> 08. Install modules and firmware
>
>     - make modules_install firmware_install
>
> 09. Run module-rebuild rebuild if present
>
>     It could also be a kind of hook defined in config file, for example:
>
>     POST_MODULES_INSTALL_HOOK="module-rebuild rebuild"
>
> 10. Build initramfs
>
>     An initramfs is going to be build either by Dracut or by
>     Geninitramfs.  I'd like to avoid using command line options of
>     Genkernel to pass to Geninitramfs or Dracut therefore Geninitramfs
>     or Dracut config is going to be used only.
>
> 11. Rebuild kernel if initramfs is chosen to be built into kernel
>
> 12. Mount /boot if present in /etc/fstab
>
> 13. Install kernel
>
>     - make install
>
> 14. Install initramfs
>
>     Copies from image from tmp directory to /boot.
>
> 15. Update boot manager entries
>
>     Adds appropriate entry to boot manager.
>
> 16. Umount /boot if it has been mounted in step 12.
>
>
> After successful reboot the cleanup could be made either by user command
> or automatically with some startup script.  Following items could be
> removed:
>
> 1. old trees in /lib/modules
> 2. old config, System.map and vmlinuz files from /boot
> 3. old initramfs image from /boot
> 4. old entries from boot manager
> 5. clean/mrproper old sources
> 6. (optionally) old sources if not managed by portage
>
>

Could we just refactor the existing code to do this?