Re: [gentoo-user] Initramfs or move /usr to /, oh my...

On March 18, 2012 at 2:52 PM "Canek Peláez Valdés" <caneko@×××××.com>
wrote:

> On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 11:44 AM, Tanstaafl <tanstaafl@×××××××××××.org>
wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
> > Ok, I have never used genkernel, and have no desire to...
> >
> > I have no idea what dracut is or how to use it...
> >
> > I have a remote system that has /usr on a separate partition.
> >
> > So...
> >
> > How do I find out if I am actually *using* an initramfs right now (I
know it
> > is built into the kernel), and

ls -l /boot/ will tell you.

There is a difference between an initrd (initial RAM disk) image (simple)
and an initramfs (initial RAM filesystem) (complicated). Gentoo used to
have a script called mkinitrd. It was removed before I migrated to Gentoo,
but I should look in attic to see if it's still there. To date I've found
no one in Gentoo who will even discuss it.

Slackware has used mkinitrd for ions, and it still works very efficiently
there. Of course, Eric Hameleers understands the script, and Slackware's
init scripts, and maintains mkinitrd. Maybe in Gentoo somebody "upstream"
scared people with initramfs, like they're doing with this horrible systemd
idea, and whoever maintained mkinitrd just cowered in the corner and
dropped the ball. Who knows?

The bottom line is that "officially" Gentoo has abandoned initrd for
initramfs. You can write a script to make an initrd, as people do all the
time. But don't look for official Gentoo support for it.

It seems to me after a year around Gentoo that things get so complicated,
and upstream gets to "force" things on Gentoo (such as systemd), because
there are just too many different developers. All are human with different
opinions, so you wind up with people going off in different directions with
no cohesive ability to stand against upstream. IOW, we're too forked within
Gentoo.

For instance, the maintainer of ConsoleKit in Gentoo (Gnome herd guy) says
he doesn't care about systemd, he's maintaining ConsoleKit and it's not
going anywhere. (We'll see...)

Anyway ... for more on Gentoo's initramfs read
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs

> > If I am not, how do I do this without using genkernel? Is dracut the
*only*
> > other option? Is it easy/trivial to set one up manually?

>
> On March 18, 2012 at 2:52 PM "Canek Peláez Valdés" <caneko@×××××.com>
prattled:
>
> udev is going to be unmasked, not stabilized. By the time udev gets
> into x86/amd64, hopefully the documentation necessary will be ready.

That's you telling the world what an asinine idea this drastic change is
... when it's the stable version, which most of the unsuspecting Gentoo
userbase will emerge, "hopefully the documentation necessary will be
ready." Par for the Poettering course.

> You can suscribe to bug 407959
> (https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=407959), which tracks the
> documentation changes necessary. Right now the only blocker is 408691
> (https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=408691), but I'm sure it will
> be joined by more bugs in the near future.
>
> Devs are already working on the documentation. If you have a test
> spare machine, you can help them, and the whole Gentoo comunity.
>
> Regards.
> --
> Canek Peláez Valdés

udev is already unmasked, and stabilized at 171-r5 now...
You need to explain what you mean ... you're probably talking about
udev-181

Please don't encourage people who don't understand what's happening to test
nefarious software ideas. There is nothing about this that's going to "help
the whole Gentoo community."
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