i've added a new USE=sep-usr flag to busybox. when enabled, this will install a static busybox at /ginit (and have the other busybox paths symlink to that so there's no overhead). this new applet has a hand written set of commands to automatically mount /dev /proc /sys /usr and seed /dev, and then execute the real init (defaulting to /sbin/init).
to use it, update your kernel command line (in grub.conf or whatever) with:
init=/ginit
if you want to use a different init from /sbin/init, then just do:
init=/ginit /some/other/init
this code does not require an initramfs, but if you happen to use one anyways,
it should be handled automatically. same goes for any other automatic mount
aspects of the boot process.
this also address the /usr-merge issue since busybox has all the programs it
executes built into itself (it's a multicall binary). this is where the
openrc early-init scripts failed (they still relied on things in /bin etc...).
this also keeps intact the rescue shell scenario. the new applet allows you
to execute other applets. so booting the kernel with a command line like so:
init=/ginit bb
will launch our standard static rescue shell. since it's static, you quite
literally don't need any other path in the system other than /.
finally, since the recent udev-mount init.d script is completely brain dead and
refuses to execute unless devtmpfs is enabled, this code will also
automatically mount+seed /dev (via mdev) if need be.
note: the automatic mounting of /usr applies only to filesystems that (1) the
kernel can natively mount (i.e. no module autoloading) and (2) do not require
external mount helpers (i.e. `mount.ntfs3g` or `mount.cifs`). i don't think
either of these are a big deal. if they are, well, use an initramfs :P.
this should address the council's requirement (sep-/usr w/out initramfs) while
allowing the general craziness to proceed w/out forking projects ourselves.
this is all in busybox-1.20.0 which is now in the tree. if people want to try
it out before i unmask it, that'd be great. seems to work in my qemu setup,
and on the s390/s390x systems which really don't have a choice when it comes
to a sep-/usr (due to limitations in the s390 hardware env).
-mike
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