linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] Driver Core: devtmpfs - kernel-maintained tmpfs-based /dev

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Message-ID: <4A7C4C8C.1050006@turmel.org>
Date:	Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:47:24 -0400
From:	Phil Turmel <philip@...mel.org>
To:	Greg KH <gregkh@...e.de>
CC:	David Dillow <dave@...dillows.org>,
	Andi Kleen <andi@...stfloor.org>, Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>,
	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Kay Sievers <kay.sievers@...y.org>,
	Jan Blunck <jblunck@...e.de>, Harald Hoyer <harald@...hat.com>,
	Scott James Remnant <scott@...ntu.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Driver Core: devtmpfs - kernel-maintained tmpfs-based
 /dev

Greg KH wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 06, 2009 at 12:20:58PM -0400, David Dillow wrote:
>> On Thu, 2009-08-06 at 17:46 +0200, Andi Kleen wrote:
>>> Greg KH <greg@...ah.com> writes:
>>>> It makes the userspace boot process much simpler and easier to maintain,
>>>> as well as providing a way to handle rescue disks and images trivially,
>>>> and it makes the kernel _less_ dependant on the early userspace bootup
>>>> scripts.
>>> As a initrd less kernel user I can really only agree: getting rid
>>> of the udev-in-initrd requirement would be a big step forward
>>> in usability. Typically I always have to pre populate 
>>> a on disk /dev manually first to get my kernels to boot.
>> If you use mount by label or UUID, you still need udev (or other tools)
>> in the initrd to find the right disk, correct?
> 
> Yes, you would.
> 

Might be straying off-topic here, but I find software raid to be 
particularly useful in this case.  I've been using it on my home server 
for a few years now, including through the transition from ide to 
libata.  The kernel autostart for md devices has been rock-solid, and 
successfully hides the real device name.  No initramfs required.

You might want to adapt the md+lvm setup from the gentoo docs [1], even 
if you only have one disk (degraded mirror).  The only gotcha I've 
encountered was forgetting to set up grub after replacing a failed disk, 
and it happened to be first in line in the BIOS.  Didn't notice 'till an 
extended power outage forced a reboot.

Phil

[1] http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86+raid+lvm2-quickinstall.xml
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