On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:07:16 -0400 (EDT), Ben Hutchings wrote: > ... > I can put a one-time warning into linux-base. But the default for > squeeze must be 'no'. It should not be necessary to create > /etc/kernel-img.conf at all in squeeze.
Sorry I didn't think of this the first time, but there are up to four steps to preparing a kernel for booting: (1) Installation of the kernel itself (2) Creation of an initial RAM file system (3) Updating symbolic links (4) Running the boot loader installer Not all steps are required in all cases, depending on the circumstances. Neither grub version 1 nor grub version 2 generally use symbolic links; so that hasn't been on the forefront of most people's minds. Strictly speaking, the historic boot loaders such as lilo and zipl don't *have* to use symbolic links, but as they have historically been used in Debian systems, they generally do. Obviously, item 1 takes care of itself. For stock kernels, item 2 also takes care of itself. And it appears that the latest version of initramfs-tools provides hook scripts of the same name in /etc/kernel/postinst.d and /etc/kernel/postrm.d which take care of item 2 for kernel image packages created by make-kpkg and make deb-pkg as well. (Actually, that item does need some work, but I'll come back to that later. For now, let's assume that item 2 is taken care of.) Item 4 is what we've been talking about. Each boot loader that needs some kind of update will have to provide a hook script starting with "zz-". Now the question is, what should we do about item 3, maintaining the symlinks? For stock kernels, that has historically been handled by variables in /etc/kernel-img.conf: do_symlinks, relative_links, and link_in_boot, mainly, though there are other seldom-used variations. But you just said that the goal was to be able to eliminate /etc/kernel-img.conf. So what do we do about symlinks? Fortunately, the "update-initramfs -u" issue doesn't affect the symlinks. The symlinks only need to be maintained, if at all, when a kernel is installed, updated, or removed. The symlinks are not, strictly speaking, associated with a package. Should the boot loader script take care of it? Or should this be a separate script? What do you think? I said I would come back to initramfs-tools; so now I'm back. There are two issues with the script as written today. (1) it does not redirect standard output to standard error when invoking update-initramfs. Thus, the user sees no output (since debconf swallows it) and, depending on the output, it may cause problems for debconf. (2) it unconditionally creates an initial RAM file system for kernel image packages created by make-kpkg, even if the user doesn't want one. There is a way to check to see if one is needed. I can submit a revised version of the script if you like. Would you like me to do so? -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-kernel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1783519414.48436.1277843088409.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com