[gentoo-dev] rc md-raid behaviour

[Rumi Szabolcs]

Hello!

I have started to edit an /etc/raidtab file for a future raid and I
just left off in the middle. Of course it was not in the fstab yet.
Later I rebooted the machine and rc tried to start the half written
array config by default (! #1), of course that failed and then it
dropped me into a single user shell (! #2) although the system disk
is a completely different non-md device, having all the filesystems
needed to go multiuser.

Seeing that I looked into the /etc/init.d/checkfs script and
found the following behaviour: If there is an /etc/raidtab file
and a /proc/mdstat, then it tries to start all the raid arrays,
unless the raid device is _present_ in the fstab with a _noauto_
flag. IMHO thats like a cop shooting at everybody who doesn't
hold a sign with the text "I'm not a gangster"...

Here is what I think it should work like:

- If there is a raidtab, _and_ in /etc/conf.d/raidstart (or call it as
you like) it says (globally) RAID_AUTOSTART="yes" _and_ in the same
file RAID_AUTOSTART_DEVICES="md0 md2 ..." lists the particular
raid device as one to be automagically started _then_ it is started,
regardless of what is in the fstab. Of course when someone is creating
a new raid device, he has to explicitly put that device into the above
variable when he thinks that the raid is ready to be autostarted, so
he won't be surprised the way I've been. This might also suggest a
separate /etc/init.d/raidstart script which has to be executed before
checkfs, dedicated to the purpose of starting the raid arrays.

Regards,
Szabolcs Rumi

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