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On 3/27/2021 18:16, James Le Cuirot wrote: |
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> On Sat, 27 Mar 2021 17:43:34 -0400 |
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> Joshua Kinard <kumba@g.o> wrote: |
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> |
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>> I kinda wish the Linux kernel had an ability to partially boot, init the |
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>> networking subsystem, then fetch an initramfs image over TFTP like it can do |
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>> with NFS Root. That would solve the problem on my MIPS system(s) (and make |
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>> install netboots better). I've dug around, but this does not seem to be a |
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>> capability currently in the kernel, unless I have over looked something. |
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>> |
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>> Otherwise in the future, I may just have to setup an initramfs into an NFS |
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>> Root and teach the SGI's to somehow deal with it. Which all still seems |
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>> unnecessarily complicated because some other distro thinks it knows what's |
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>> best for everyone else (but I digress...). |
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> |
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> NBD may be a slightly simpler alternative and a bit more like an |
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> initramfs. nbdkit can do all sorts of weird things. I thought it might |
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> have a plugin for cpio archives, allowing you to use a regular |
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> initramfs generated by Dracut or similar directly. It doesn't appear to |
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> but plugins are quite easy to write. Alternatively you could just |
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> extract the initramfs and use nbdkit-linuxdisk-plugin. |
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Can NBD be used like I described? Never played with it before. The MIPS |
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machine has functioning local disk drives, and currently, it boots fine by |
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just pulling a kernel off my TFTP server and booting from the local drive, |
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no initramfs needed because I compiled everything into it. If we ever force |
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sep-usr to end, then I'll need a way to teach it to mount /usr before |
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dropping into /bin/init (and nothing else). |
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I wonder if there's a small C program out there that can call whatever the |
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kernel functions are to mount a disk partition that could be embedded into a |
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tiny initramfs, then pivot_root to $REAL_ROOT and run /bin/init? |
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-- |
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Joshua Kinard |
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Gentoo/MIPS |
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kumba@g.o |
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rsa6144/5C63F4E3F5C6C943 2015-04-27 |
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177C 1972 1FB8 F254 BAD0 3E72 5C63 F4E3 F5C6 C943 |
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|
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"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future frightens us. And |
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our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between." |
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--Emperor Turhan, Centauri Republic |
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