Bug#750360: systemd-sysv: /sbin/init should be a relative symlink

[Dominik George]

Control: reopen -1
Control: retitle -1 systemd-sysv: breaks NFS root systems

Hi Michael,

> > This is nothing which can be fixed in the systemd package, thus closing
> > the bug report.

sorry, I think you oversimplify the issue. While fixing policy or
debhelper might be none of your business, as a sad matter of fact,
systemd-sysv very well breaks NFS root systems. I retitled the bug
report to clarify that.

Fixing this bug might involve changing debhelper behaviour, but it might
also involve just overriding debhelper because this is a special case.

I'll also discuss the issue with the initramfs-tools maintainer. Their
script assumes that /sbin/init never is an absolute symlink, which is a
valid assumption because noone ever did that before systemd-sysv.

As long as the situation has not been clarified, I kindly ask you to
keep this valid bug report open. Nothing to be ashamed of, just a simple
fact that something is broken, mind you ;).

> > Please feel free to report this issue against the debhelper package,
> > which ships dh_link.

I do not think dh_link has to be changed, as it cannot cover every
special case. Again, /sbin/init is a _VERY_ special case, so just
overriding dh_link might be very ok.

> I want to add here, that dh_link simply implements Debian policy [1]
> here, which says that symlinks between toplevel directories should be
> absolute.
> 
> That means, if you want to see this changed, you'll need to get Debian
> policy updated.

Not really, as it clearly says "should".

In other words, nothing else inside Debian is preventing you from just
fixing that symlink, because policy says it *should* be absolute, and
debhelper is far from mandatory; the only thing that is a hard blocker
to fix this is your desire to keep the thing as it is ;). Therefore, I
will get into discussion with other involved groups to see what can be
done.

In the meantime, please just see that something broke, and it broke with
systemd-sysv ;).

-nik

-- 
<Natureshadow> Auf welchem Server liegt das denn jetzt…?
<mirabilos> Wenn es nicht übers Netz kommt bei Hetzner, wenn es nicht
            gelesen wird bei STRATO, wenn es klappt bei manitu.

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