[pkg-cryptsetup-devel] Bug#492560: Bug#548900: udev update killed my LVM2 boot (sed: not found)

[Jonas Meurer]

hello,

On 30/09/2009 Sheridan Hutchinson wrote:
> /9/30 Jonas Meurer <jonas at freesources.org>:
> >> c.) busybox should be a hard dependency on lvm2, or cryptsetup, as
> >> INDISPENSABLE for people with encrypted LVM2's to be able to boot
> >
> > no, lvm2, cryptsetup, mdadm, etc all can still be used without initramfs
> > on non-root partititions (or for lvm with lilo), thus a hard dependency
> > is the wrong way to go.
> > initramfs-tools already recommends busybox, and installing recommends is
> > the default in debian since lenny.
> 
> I disagree with your analysis, I do not see why people who don't
> install recommends should not expect packages and functionality to
> just work.

first let's see what 'expected functionality' is for the packages in
question. all of cryptsetup, lvm and mdadm to provide tools to manage
device-mapper setups in the first place. they're perfectly usable
without the rootfs on a dm device, and in fact many people (me included)
use setups where initramfs isn't required in order to access the rootfs
at all. that's the reason why we suggest initramfs-tools in cryptsetup
and don't depend on it.
the same holds for initramfs-tools and busybox: for some setups busybox
isn't required for the initramfs to work, while on other systems it is.
thus initramfs-tools recommends busybox - and as already mentioned the
default on debian is to install recommends. and yes, recommends have
their name for a reason: it is recommended to install the packages in
question. if you choose to not do something being both recommended and
default, especially when you don't know internals of the tools in
question, then you should expect breakage.

> > additionally update-initramfs warns about missing busybox in case that
> > you have root on dm-crypt/lvm/dmraid/...:
> >
> > # update-initramfs -u
> > update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-1-amd64
> > Warning: Busybox is required for successful boot!
> 
> This warning is only shown if manually done like above, it is not
> shown when initramfs updates as a result of a trigger when using dpkg,
> apt, synaptic or aptitude.  If I had seen this warning, I would have
> heeded it.

i just checked, and you're wrong here: 

# apt-get install mdadm
[...]
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boo/initrd.img-2.6.30-1-amd64
Warning: Busybox is requird for sucessfull boot!
#

> > i guess the only real bug here is busybox not invoking update-initramfs,
> > all other issues you discovered where due to your special setup and you
> > ignoring warnings and docs. i suggest to close the bugreport for that
> > reason.
> 
> Firstly, while I thank you for your help I don't like your tone and I
> have spoken to everyone else with the utmost respect so I do have an
> expectation I'll receive the same courtesy.  Suggesting that I've
> ignored countless warnings and haven't read documentation is full of
> presumption:

i'm really sorry if you interpreted my answers as being harsh. this
might be due to the fact that english isn't my default language. i never
inteded to be harsh or unrespectful. nevertheless i have do admit that
pragmatic, sometimes even rigorous tone becomes more and more common
discussion cultur in free software communities. unfortunately that
corrupts members who're not native english speakers, and who often adopt
phrases from native-english speakers.

> a.) I didn't see a warning, as I explained above;

then you must have missed the warning. according to initramfs-tools
changelog, the warning is around since 2007.

> b.) I have not see anything in any document that says that busybox is
> essential for systems with LVM2 encrypted partitions to be able to
> boot.  As an end-user, I have no way of knowing this to be the case.
> I do not however mind that it is the case, and normally Debian has
> appropriate dependencies so that things just work and I don't need to
> worry.

yes, and again debian installs recommends per default. if you don't
install recommends, you might expect some features of the package not
to work out of the box. i just added a warning that busybox is required
for cryptroot to work to /usr/share/doc/cryptsetup/README.initramfs.gz.

greetings,
 jonas
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