linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 4/5] don't panic if /sbin/init exits or killed

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Date:	Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:41:18 +0100
From:	Bodo Eggert <7eggert@....de>
To:	Roland McGrath <roland@...hat.com>,
	Oleg Nesterov <oleg@...sign.ru>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Davide Libenzi <davidel@...ilserver.org>,
	"Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@...ssion.com>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>,
	Laurent Riffard <laurent.riffard@...e.fr>,
	Pavel Emelyanov <xemul@...nvz.org>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/5] don't panic if /sbin/init exits or killed

Roland McGrath <roland@...hat.com> wrote:

>> But panic() isn't better? It doesn't provide any useful info.
> 
> It is not misleading in the same way.  It's clear that going to look at the
> kernel source is not the place to find the root of the problem.
> 
>> Well, I think the generic "if we have a chance to survive, we should try
>> to survive" rule is good.
>> 
>> If the boot init dies, at least the admin has a chance to figure out what
>> has happened, and -o remount,ro /.
> 
> For me and you, I agree.  I think the common case is that there is no admin
> prepared to do any such thing, but just someone expecting a reboot to fix
> things and preferring that a failing system reboot itself in the middle of
> the night rather than wedge.

I think the common case is repairing a system using init=/bin/sh, and
forgetting to not log out instead of fscking the filesystem after the panic.
Rebooting on panic= is fine, but not skipping the umount/sync stages.

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