Bug#768657: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] Bug#768657: sysvinit: Please provide xen virtual console in inittab

[Gedalya]

On 12/03/2014 05:45 PM, Samuel Thibault wrote:
> Gedalya, le Wed 03 Dec 2014 17:22:41 -0500, a écrit :
>> On 12/03/2014 05:12 PM, Samuel Thibault wrote:
>>> I'm not sure to understand what the original bug report is about
>>> precisely.  AIUI, it is about the following scenario:
>>>
>>> 1) install debian in a Xen domU, ending up with systemd installed by
>>> default
>>> 2) install sysvinit-core to switch back to sysvinit boot
>>> 3) end up having to fix this and that to get sysvinit work properly
>> "this and that" being very specifically one line added to inittab:
>> co:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty hvc0 9600 linux
>> Given the above scenario this needs to be done by hand.
>> As I understand the code, currently d-i would still add that for the user,
>> if /etc/inittab existed, and it doesn't because sysvinit-core is not
>> installed.
> Well, yes.  But this does not seem surprising to me: again, usually d-i
> tunes packages which it has installed.  It doesn't tune much what could
> potentially get installed later on.  And it should for sure not install
> a complete /etc/inittab, that would only confuse people who were used to
> configure things there.
>
>>> I'm just wondering one thing: between steps 1) and 2), does the
>>> installed system (using systemd) properly have a login banner on hvc0?
>> It does. The problem occurs only after installing sysvinit-core. If the user
>> really depends on a console then they would need to add this line before
>> rebooting, and we can expect that they might not know to do so.
> Well, changing the init system is not something trivial indeed.
>
> What is new here is that sysvinit-core can now get initially installed
> not from d-i.  And thus the tuning usually done by d-i can't work.
>
> Also, we probably have to think about ping-pong scenarii: install
> sysvinit-core, then switch back to systemd, purge sysvinit-core, and
> drop /etc/inittab. Change one's mind again, reinstall sysvinit-core.
> We still want to have a console on /dev/hvc0.  We're far from d-i, so
> it'd rather be sysvinit-core which does the job of adding the console to
> inittab.
>
> Can't some of the logic in finish-install's 90console simply moved to
> sysvinit-core's postinst?
>

The bug I initially opened was against sysvinit, asking for exactly 
this, and citing a case where this was already done, recently.