Re: [gentoo-dev] newsitem: initramfs required on Linux systems with separate /usr

[Sven Eden]

Am Mittwoch, 25. September 2013, 11:05:24 schrieb Ian Stakenvicius:
> On 25/09/13 10:51 AM, Rich Freeman wrote:
> > On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 10:09 AM, Ian Stakenvicius <axs@g.o>
> >
> > wrote:
> >> William, I think what Tom was mentioning here is that he thinks
> >> a one-sentence answering the "Why" would be a good idea to have
> >> in the news item, so users that don't have a clue on all of these
> >> sep-/usr issues will get an idea of why the change is being
> >> made.
> >
> > How about something like: Due to many upstream changes properly
> > supporting a separate /usr without an initramfs has become
> > increasingly difficult - despite all our efforts it already breaks
> > in some exotic configurations, and this is a trend likely to grow
> > worse.
> >
> > Rich
>
> How about changing "[properly] supporting a separate /usr without an
> initramfs" to "supporting a system with /usr missing at boot time"  ?
>  More generic, indicates the actual problem better.  Otherwise sounds
> great to me.

Maybe some links to articles that explain *why* the so called "UsrMerge" was 
needed/done would be a good idea. I have a feeling that many people (still) 
think a separate /usr partition would be something they needed badly, and that 
it is all Lennards fault (and his wrecked systemd project) that a separate 
/usr /suddenly/ needs an initrd. In fact, only really rare cornercases (*) 
actually *need* a separate /usr partition, and none can't live with an initrd.

The most prominent sites would be, I believe,
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/UsrMove/ and
http://http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/TheCaseForTheUsrMerge/ 
with references to
http://http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/separate-usr-is-broken/ ?

Don't understand me wrong, please. I have always worked with a separate /usr 
partition, and was extremely pissed off when, all of a sudden, I was told that 
I'd need an initrd to support it further.
My thoughts where a bit like: "/But why? I need, that! It is highly useful, 
because .... because  ... erm.. (no idea...) ... Because I've *always* used it 
that way!/"
In the end I found absolutely no reason for _not_ merging /usr into / and did 
it. Result: No initrd and one partition less to take care of. I have never had 
any disadvantage by that merge over a year ago on all my machines. And then I 
took a closer look at all servers (debian, ranging from Sarge over Lenny to 
Squeeze) at my workplace, and none ever even had a separate /usr.

Cheers

Sven

(*): Like /usr over NFS