[Pkg-sysvinit-devel] Support for kernels without tmpfs

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:
> > I must admit, that in my opinion kernels without tmpfs isn't supported
> > today (as the shm* are not working), and those using them just have to
> > live with the pain alone. :)
> 
> Let's take this to d-devel, then.  I will do it.

Before I do that, I thought of something.  How hard would it be for us to
support a tmpfs-less kernel *with a initrw partition*, where we:

1. Detect that a non-tmpfs initrw partition is desired by the local admin,
and to be created in a local-admin specified device (which needs to be
provided by the initrd. Their problem, not ours).   This can be done by
searching for a /lib/init/rw entry in /etc/fstab.

2. mkfs that filesystem and mount it rw as the early rw partition. Yes, this
slows down the boot.  Not our problem either.  If the partition is small,
the mkfs can be quite fast, and if someone wants speed, he needs a proper
kernel with tmpfs support or to strip down the initscripts himself.

If we can't create the initrw partition, or if a partition is not in use and
tmpfs is not available, we just panic and switch to single-user mode with a
suitable dramatic error message.

What do you guys think?

-- 
  "One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh