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On Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:01:28 +0000 |
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Alan Mackenzie <acm@×××.de> wrote: |
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> Hello, Neil. |
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> |
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> On Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 10:41:53PM +0100, Neil Bothwick wrote: |
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> > On Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:24:22 +0000, Alan Mackenzie wrote: |
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> |
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> > > That is precisely what the question was NOT about. The idea was |
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> > > to copy (not move) booting software to /sbin instead of an |
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> > > initramfs - the exact same programs, modulo noise - to have the |
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> > > SW in /sbin necessary to mount /usr. |
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> |
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> > Your package manager only knows about the copy in the original |
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> > location. |
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> |
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> So? The same applies to a copy in the initramfs. |
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No it doesn't. The initramfs is a transient file system contained |
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within a single file. To the package manager, it is just a file, one |
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with a rather unique name that portage is highly unlikely to try and |
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overwrite. |
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Copying binaries into / means you are copying a large number of files |
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into an area managed by the package manager. Those files have names and |
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locations that are rather likely to be used by ebuilds. |
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Do we really have to spell out to you why this is a bad idea? |
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> > When you update you'll have multiple versions of the same program or |
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> > library in your path. |
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> |
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> Well, with the manual/script copying which needs doing either |
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> for /sbin or initramfs, that will be several copies of a program, not |
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> several versions. |
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Your copies will be used in preference to the originals in /usr. You |
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will have to detect this yourself when this occurs and re-copy them and |
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portage cannot help you. |
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Remember the primary difference between / and an initramfs: |
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The initramfs is transient and it's contents are not available to |
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confuse the system once early boot is over. |
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/ is a permanent file system that is always around, and always there to |
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confuse the issue. |
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This is not a small trivial issue, it is huge, and a magnificent |
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bug-injection system. |
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> I'm still trying to see the reason why an /sbin with the same |
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> contents as a putative initramfs won't work. |
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Oh, it will work for booting all right. It's the issues it will cause |
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after booting when it should no longer be there that is the problem. |
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-- |
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Alan McKinnnon |
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alan.mckinnon@×××××.com |
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