:: [DNG] initramfs (was: running with…
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Author: Rainer Weikusat
Date:  
To: dng
Old-Topics: Re: [DNG] running with separate / and /usr
Subject: [DNG] initramfs (was: running with separate / and /usr)
marc <marcxdv@???> writes:

[...]

> And here is where the "re-invent it poorly" comes in: Linux
> has shifted some of this work into the initrd or initramfs. My
> view is that the initramfs is a mess:
>
>   - it differs between distributions
>   - it is brittle to update (a complex build tool is needed)
>   - it is redundant (needs to copy loads of files around. Maybe
>       not an issue on the 100TB system you have, but the smartwatch or
>       smartbulb builder might see it differently)
>   - configurations are duplicated, hardcoded or non-obvious.
>   - it is opaque - not easy to look in to with ls.


There's lsinitramfs :-). Also, an initramfs file is just a compressed
cpio-archive and hence, fairly easly handled with standard tools. I've
maintained my own for a while for an software appliance product intended
to run on arbitray hardware.