karl@??? wrote on 16.11.18 20:45:
> Urban:
[...]
>> Most, if not all, contemporary Linux based operating systems should be
>> able to boot just fine without resorting to any kind of initramfs mechanism,
>> provided all the essential bits are located in the root-fs, and the kernel
>> has all the drivers necessary to access said root-fs compiled in.
>
> You will have problems doing that when the boot fs is on a partition on
> a md-raid partition and probably when the boot fs is somewhere on a lvm
> thing. At least you'd have the problem of telling the kernel where the
> root fs is that has dynamic device numbers and must be assembled or
> something before the rootfs is available.
>
> Booting from a md-raid with v0.90 metadata can be done though, since
> theese can be autodetected by the kernel, and the same is valid for
> nfs-booting; though the kernel devs. seems to view that as a hack and
> points to initrd as the solution.

You are correct. I oversimplified a bit, the reason being that scenarios
like the one you just outlined won't be affected by /usr being merged
or not, which is what the original subject of the thread was about.

Regards,
Urban

--
Sapere aude!