Bug#913061: systemd: stop shipping /bin/systemd

[Michael Biebl]

Hi Ansgar

On Thu, 12 Sep 2019 09:00:12 +0200 Ansgar <ansgar at 43-1.org> wrote:
> Ben Hutchings writes:
> > On Wed, 2019-09-11 at 19:20 +0200, Ansgar wrote:
> >> would it be possible to add a fallback to try /lib/systemd/systemd if
> >> the user provided init=/bin/systemd and the file no longer exists?
> >> 
> >> I would like systemd to stop shipping the /bin/systemd symlink as this
> >> should not be run by users, however it was suggested to use
> >> init=/bin/systemd for testing purposes in the past (see below).  So just
> >> removing the symlink might make some systems unbootable.
> >
> > I don't think it's appropriate for the initramfs to do this sort of
> > magic.  Even if they did, this wouldn't cover systems using a custom
> > kernel that doesn't need an initramfs.
> >
> > I think that a better way to handle this would be for systemd itself to
> > warn on upgrade if /proc/cmdline contains init=/bin/systemd.
> 
> The problem is that many people don't read warning or don't react on
> them right away.  So I would prefer if we had an additional safety net.
> If this wouldn't result in unbootable systems, I agree that a warning
> would be sufficient.

Since Ben was against adding such a fallback to initramfs-tools, we
either need a different solution or continue to ship the symlink.

I wonder whether aborting in preinst is acceptable or not. A warning
message probably won't cut it.


-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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