Re: [gentoo-user] The End Is Near ... or, get the vaseline, they're on the way!

[Mark Knecht]

On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 9:11 PM, Bruce Hill, Jr.
<daddy@×××××××××××××××××××××.com> wrote:
>  This item just appeared after eix-sync:
>
> HTPC ~ # eselect news read
> 2012-03-16-udev-181-unmasking
>  Title                     udev-181 unmasking
>  Author                    William Hubbs <williamh@g.o>
>  Posted                    2012-03-16
>  Revision                  1
>
> udev-181 is being unmasked on 2012-03-19.
>
> This news item is to inform you that once you upgrade to a version of
> udev >=181, if you have /usr on a separate partition, you must boot your
> system with an initramfs which pre-mounts /usr.
>
> An initramfs which does this is created by
>>=sys-kernel/genkernel-3.4.25.1 or
>>=sys-kernel/dracut-017-r1. If you do not want to use these tools, be
> sure any initramfs you create pre-mounts /usr.
>
> Also, if you are using OpenRC, you must upgrade to >= openrc-0.9.9.
>
> For more information on why this has been done, see the following URL:
> http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/separate-usr-is-broken
>
>
>
> Happy Computer Users, systemd is on your horizon.
>
> Houston, we have a problem!
> --
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> 126 Fenco Drive            ( \
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> 662-269-2706; 662-491-8613
> support at happypenguincomputers dot com
> http://www.happypenguincomputers.com
>

Some comments from my limited, end-user, not-a-professional,
just-out-here-in-the-Ether, end-user point of view:

1) Unmasking udev-181 doesn't mean it becomes stable, so I am assuming
(for now) that since I run stable Gentoo this won't directly effect me
on Monday. Comments?

2) There's an extra danger lurking in that message that if they make
udev-181 stable and forget to make OpenRC-0.9.9 stable ahead of that
time then people are going to be in a world of pain.

3) I am going to mask both of these versions until the latest possible
date. Sorry, but I'll watch others struggle through the problems of
conversion on live machines. Boy, I don't look forward to those
threads.

4) I don't use a separate /usr so I don't need any of this. I suspect
most casual Gentoo users like me are pretty much the same.

4) I am going to look at doing a dual boot Gentoo install on some
system here at home to try this out. Damn, I don't have time for this
but what choice are they giving me. I'll continue to run stable but
look at ~amd64 for both OpenRC & udev, as well as possibly trying out
the mdev & systemd paths. I guess I'll be soliciting positives and
negatives about all the possibilities. The recent threads have been so
long that I lost track. Maybe someone will put together a Gentoo Wiki
page on udev vs mdev vs systemd vs OpenRC vs whatever I forgot?

5) If things work locally then (and this is a BIG maybe) maybe I'll
look at new dual-boot installs remotely. Those machines have plenty of
disk space. While my remote machines aren't globally important they
are what my parents now in their 80's use for web browsing & email.
Don't want them to be out of touch with the world.

6) Finally, this reminds me of the rush made to push MythTV to some
version that finally broke my hardware's compatibility which drove me
away from Myth and into the waiting arms of DirecTV. I hope that
doesn't happen with Gentoo overall. I understand devs don't want to
support old software. I just hope they realize that users aren't all
Linux superstars with unlimited time to mess with this stuff while
getting a pay check from someone else. Many of us are just normal
folk.

Over and out for now.

Cheers,
Mark