Re: [gentoo-user] Tips for fresh install with GRUB2+RAID1+LVM2

[Peter Humphrey]

On Sunday 17 May 2015 10:09:11 Rich Freeman wrote:
--->8
> Most people using openrc are also using systemd-udev (and there is a
> good chance you do too).  The latter was previously named udev and
> long predates what most people call systemd.  Eudev is a fork of udev,
> which comes from after it came under the systemd umbrella, but before
> the name change and a number of changes that were controversial.  I
> believe they try to incorporate many of the patches from systemd-udev
> but some default behaviors are different.
>
> In any case, I just wanted to clarify that systemd-udev is not the
> "systemd" you're probably thinking of.  In particular, it doesn't
> replace openrc or sysvinit.  Systemd-udev largely is concerned with
> populating /dev, and running initialization of hardware when it is
> detected, based on a configurable set of rules.

Thanks for the clarification. I admit I haven't kept up with developments here.

> On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 9:24 AM, Peter Humphrey <peter@××××××××××××.uk>
> wrote:
> > Damn. I've just checked and something has renamed my /dev/md7 to
> > /dev/md127. Again. It's just too bad. I shall have to stop it when I get a
> > quiet moment and reassemble it into /dev/md7. Actually, I know what caused
> > it but I didn't notice at the time.
>
> And this was one of the configuration problems I ran into on rare
> occasion.  Often booting from a rescue CD or such caused something
> like this to happen.

I believe the cause in this case was forgetting an important step part-way 
through creating the volumes, rebooting to repair the omission and then 
resuming. I should have checked before now that /dev/mdX hadn't been renamed 
to /dev/md12X. I think it should be fairly straightforward to fix though.

> One of the advantages of using an initramfs is that they can be a lot
> smarter about finding your partitions.  You can identify them by UUID
> or label, and not care as much if mdadm or the kernel renames your
> device nodes.
>
> I'd seriously take a look at dracut, though I don't know if it works
> with eudev.  It certainly should support openrc, and I know that it
> did back when I was running openrc.

Maybe I will. I suspect dodgy disks and I have a pair of new SSDs on the way. 
Perhaps it's time for a rethink.

> It certainly isn't necessary to use an initramfs to use Gentoo, and I
> used to be among the more minimalist crowd that avoided them.
> However, once I took the time to examine dracut it went from being a
> blob that looked unnecessary to a tool that is often useful.

Thanks again for your contribution, Rich.

-- 
Rgds
Peter