Bug#403863: [Pkg-sysvinit-devel] Bug#403863: initscripts: Stray file /lib/init/rw/.ramfs not in package list

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007, Greg Kochanski wrote:
> >On Sun, 31 Dec 2006, Greg Kochanski wrote:
> >>According to that document, /lib is reserved for "shared library images
> >>needed to boot the system and run the commands in the root filesystem".
> >
> >This is a bogus description of lib *on systems where libexec is not used*.
> 
> It's not a bogus description, it's a direct quote from Debian
> documentation.   If it's wrong/bad, propose a patch against the FHS.

Debian documentation is often wrong [as in it does not reflect reality
because of other reasons than bugs], outdated, and all that crap as usual.

The truth is that Debian just "mostly" follows the FHS.  From time to time
this is dealt with and Debian adjusts more to the FHS, or the FHS adds this
and that to better allow for Debian system needs.  It is a continuous
process.

I am not defending this. I am stating that it is the reality, not that it is
desireable.

> In particular, the FHS goes on to say "Only the shared libraries 
> required to run binaries in /bin and /sbin may be here."   That's pretty
> clear English, as far as I'm concerned.

I never said you had gotten the FHS wrong.

> The bigger problem is that there's other stuff in /lib/init that
> doesn't agree with the FHS.    Unfortunately,
> the FHS doesn't have /libexec either...

No.  The big problem is that, AFAWK, the FHS doesn't have /run or anything
else that is usable for the initrw partition, and that adding anything to /
is non-trivial and requires a ruling of the TC in the Debian side.

So the sysvinit team got hold of a namespace that is ours and technically
sound (/lib/init) as it is local-system-specific and required to be
available at the time /sbin/init is run, and bypassed all the bickering in
the Debian side.

If the FHS can mandate /run, we will switch to it.  If it requires Debian
and others to implement it first, then it will probably not happen anytime
soon, as last time I checked, the sentiment among the sysvinit team is that
we have better ways to waste our time than doing monkey-headbutting against
other DDs to deploy /run.

And, unlike /lib, placing the initrw partition on /etc would be just Wrong,
/boot and /mnt are out-of-limits, /tmp is unusable for initrw partitions,
etc.

The only reason I didn't tag this wontfix is that I also agree we should get
rid of .ramfs if we can.  I hate failure-prone solutions like the use of
"flag files" like .ramfs.

-- 
  "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