Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Alon Bar-Lev <alonbl@g.o>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Optional /usr merge in Gentoo
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 10:51:05
Message-Id: CAOazyz2nk465cueMfYN07b30xqz_o5aR9Kx-Bsh5sxNk6s9UOw@mail.gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Optional /usr merge in Gentoo by Alan McKinnon
1 On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 1:04 PM, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com> wrote:
2 > On 19/08/2013 11:31, pk wrote:
3 >> On 2013-08-19 00:49, Dale wrote:
4 >>
5 >>> Picking random message sort of. Isn't eudev still going to support a
6 >>> separate /usr? That is my understanding. If eudev is not then I may
7 >>> have to reconsider some things myself here.
8 >>
9 >> Yes, that is my understanding as well. But the "decision" to not support
10 >> a separate /usr lies higher up in the system hierarchy (as I understand
11 >> it). Gentoo as a system will not support a separate /usr if we are to
12 >> believe the conversation (I haven't seen any official notice of this
13 >> though). That is the sad part. The problem I have, as an engineer, is
14 >> that "everybody" says that a separate /usr is broken, that sysvinit is
15 >> broken without explaining why. In order to fix a problem you need to
16 >> know what is broken... The people who claims the brokenness are, imo,
17 >> hand waving and they've managed to convince higher uppers in the Gentoo
18 >> infrastructure (as it seems). I guess if you repeat something often
19 >> enough it becomes a "truth" or said person(s) just agrees to stop the
20 >> nagging.
21 >
22 >
23 > It's not that separate /usr is broken - it's not.
24 >
25 > The issue is a separate /usr without an initramfs. And the issue ONLY
26 > occurs at early-boot time.
27 >
28 > The problem is that with modern hardware much code that was
29 > traditionally stored in /usr may be needed early in the boot sequence,
30 > before /usr is mounted. The obvious case is firmware and drivers, and
31 > the usual example cited is bluetooth keyboards. If you need keyboard
32 > input at this time, you need to have the bluetooth daemon running, which
33 > is on /usr, which is not mounted.
34 >
35 > The solution is to use an initramfs, and on a technical level it's not
36 > any different to needing a way to get the ext4 module off disk so you
37 > can mount /.
38 >
39 > Some may argue that bluetooth keyboards are a rarity and that's tough.
40 > Well, there's Macbook hardware, and phones which have soft keyboards.
41 > But many scenarios could exist, all due to the fact that hot-pluggable
42 > hardware can in theory run any arbitrary code to get itself up and
43 > running, and if that code is on a volume that is not mounted... The
44 > solution is obvious - all that code should be on / somewhere, or should
45 > be mountable using an initramfs.
46
47 You fail to understand why separate / is required.
48
49 Had the argument was: If you have special needs then have /usr mounted at boot.
50 I would have agreed.
51 This means that if you are using bluetooth keyboard, well you do have
52 an extra requirement.
53
54 However, because of your specific configuration drop the ability to
55 recover from filesystem corruptions or be able to repair is totally
56 different issue.
57
58 > Personally, I think that splitting / and /usr is a daft idea:
59 >
60 > a. I have multi-TB hard disks, completely unlike the 5M monsters that
61 > Thomson had to deal with in the 70s
62
63 You could have mounted several disk at boot even in the 70s.
64
65 > b. I haven't had /usr break on me during boot requiring busybox in
66 > maintenance mode for at least 5 years. Every startup failure in that
67 > time required a rescue cd anyway, and I always have one of those handy
68
69 This is your take... and it is totally wrong.
70
71 > c. it IS useful for terminal servers, but those tend to have experienced
72 > sysadmins, and they really should be OK with an initramfs (or their
73 > vendor should ship one)
74
75 Who is that vendor? so you along with systemd, udev, gnome, etc... do
76 you suggest the same vendor will also provide initramfs for gentoo...
77 maybe this is the next stage of systemd...
78
79 > I'm often at the front of the Lennart-bashing parade, and what he says
80 > often makes sense but only in his narrow view of the world, but in
81 > *this* case, I can't help but admit he does have a point.
82
83 Again, there is no reason why not support separate /usr configuration,
84 people who have special needs, like running systemd or have special
85 complex userland hardware that is a must for single user mode can
86 always mount /usr at early stage.
87
88 But because of the fact that you are using systemd or have bluetooth
89 keyboard force everyone to merge /usr is something that is unclear to
90 me.
91
92 >
93 > --
94 > Alan McKinnon
95 > alan.mckinnon@×××××.com
96 >
97 >