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On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 10:57 AM, Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> Hi all, |
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> I'd like to check in and get some education concerning future |
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> configuration of my Gentoo machines. Thanks in advance. |
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> |
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> In the last few days there is a news announcement about needing to |
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> change kernel my configuration to enable CONFIG_FHANDLE to support |
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> udev-210. I'm currently at udev-208 and virtual/udev-208-r1 so no big |
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> deal yet. However reading the news announcement it appears this has |
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> more to do with systemd than anything else and I don't use systemd so |
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> does/will this effect my machines? |
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|
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Yes, it will; udev (independently of systemd) is using FHANDLE to find |
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the devices in the computer. |
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|
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udev is part of systemd, but it can be used separately. This is |
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supported by upstream (i.e., systemd). The change in the kernel config |
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is needed by udev. |
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|
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> NOTE: I have no problem I know about today enabling CONFIG_FHANDLE |
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> if it's recommended. |
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|
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It is: udev will not work without it. Even more: eudev (when they |
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catch up) will not work without it either, since eudev does no |
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original work; they just exorcise systemd from udev. |
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|
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> That said there's an interesting (if it is to be believed) little |
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> rant thread over the last couple of days on LKML about Debian |
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> leadership forcing people into systemd. |
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|
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The Debian Technical Committee took the technical decision of using |
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systemd as default init system. There is no "forcing" here; Debian is |
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ruled by a Constitution, and they (very slowly) followed their rules |
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and laws to reach that decision. |
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|
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> I think the Gentoo devs forked |
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> udev to make either mdev or eudev but when it was announced it was too |
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> new for me so I just let it go by. |
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|
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Gentoo, by default, uses udev without systemd. Again, this is |
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supported by upstream (i.e., systemd), nothing special about it. |
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*Some* Gentoo developers "forked" systemd into eudev, so you can have |
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a "udev without systemd" (although, as stated above, upstream supports |
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udev without systemd). I don't know the exact numbers, but it's my |
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impression (by reading -dev and -user), that eudev is used in Gentoo |
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(and only Gentoo) by a handful of people. The great majority is using |
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sys-fs/udev, and I'm willing to bet that more people are using systemd |
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directly than eudev. |
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|
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> Maybe now it's time for me to look |
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> into making a change of some type? I see eudev in portage, but not |
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> mdev. |
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|
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Using eudev will gain you nothing; the FHANDLE change will reach them |
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eventually. If you use mdev, you will have a noticeable loss of |
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functionality. I think even less people use mdev than eudev. |
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|
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> A (really, really, really) quick scan of the current install docs |
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> makes me think sysvinit/OpenRC/udev is still the default for new |
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> installs. Is this true? |
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|
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Yes, it's true, and no one will propose changing this, at least in the |
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near future. And even if systemd becomes the standard Gentoo init |
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system, OpenRC will be (almost surely) supported until the end of |
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times. |
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|
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> If so why is this kernel change being |
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> required? |
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|
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Because is new functionality provided by the kernel required by |
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*udev*, not (necessarily) systemd. Happens all the time; new |
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technology in the kernel is pretty useless if userspace doesn't start |
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taking advantage of it. |
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|
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> Also, I seem to have virtual/udev installed which says it's about |
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> enabling switching between udev & eudev. However there are no files |
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> associated with virtual/udev. (equery files virtual/udev returns |
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> nothing) |
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|
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That's why it's a virtual; a virtual pulls in different |
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implementations of the (in theory) same functionality. |
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|
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> It appears I cannot install eudev without removing udev so |
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> this seems a big step to take: |
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[ snip] |
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|
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It is a big step to take, and it will gain you nothing: eventually, |
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eudev *will* require FHANDLE, unless they diverge even more from |
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upstream, a thing I believe they cannot afford to do. |
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|
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> At this point I'm not even sure what my other questions might be as |
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> I'm just trying to get my head around what others are using these |
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> days. |
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|
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Well, it's undeniable that systemd usage is on the raising everywhere, |
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including Gentoo (specially since GNOME pulls it in). I myself use |
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systemd, and could not be happier. |
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|
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However, OpenRC is (and will be for the foreseeable future) the |
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default init system. |
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|
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> I do have a second Gentoo install on this system on an SSD so |
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> (once updated) I could do a switch there as a test. |
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|
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My suggestion is for you to enable FHANDLE. From the kernel: |
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|
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""" |
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config FHANDLE |
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bool "open by fhandle syscalls" |
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select EXPORTFS |
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help |
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If you say Y here, a user level program will be able to map |
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file names to handle and then later use the handle for |
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different file system operations. This is useful in implementing |
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userspace file servers, which now track files using handles instead |
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of names. The handle would remain the same even if file names |
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get renamed. Enables open_by_handle_at(2) and name_to_handle_at(2) |
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syscalls. |
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""" |
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|
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It enables a couple of syscalls, and I don't think it will increase |
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much your kernel size. All systemd forks (including eudev) will need |
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it at some point, since it makes things easier for the developers. You |
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*could* use mdev instead of udev, but is **NOT** a drop in |
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replacement: you *will* lose some (if not much) functionality. |
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|
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So just enable the thing and go on with your life. |
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|
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My 0.02 ${CURRENCY}. |
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|
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Regards. |
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-- |
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Canek Peláez Valdés |
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Posgrado en Ciencia e Ingeniería de la Computación |
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |