From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic =?utf-8?Q?Court=C3=A8s?=) Subject: Re: [PATCH] linux-initrd: Introduce way to add more packages to initrd. Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2016 14:53:58 +0200 Message-ID: <871t27wcux.fsf@gnu.org> References: <20160725074606.66hhcgeehmcsv2pf@venom> <20160725201002.7211-1-sleep_walker@gnu.org> <20160801103933.GD1062@venom> <87h9b4qxnb.fsf@gnu.org> <20160801182636.GG1062@venom> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:38520) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bUZCv-0001MF-Me for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 02 Aug 2016 08:54:06 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bUZCr-0004KY-Ek for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 02 Aug 2016 08:54:04 -0400 Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::e]:59193) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bUZCr-0004KN-Bf for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 02 Aug 2016 08:54:01 -0400 Received: from pluto.bordeaux.inria.fr ([193.50.110.57]:55890 helo=pluto) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:128) (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1bUZCp-000371-OG for guix-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 02 Aug 2016 08:54:00 -0400 In-Reply-To: <20160801182636.GG1062@venom> (=?utf-8?B?IlRvbcOhxaEgxIxlY2gi?= =?utf-8?B?J3M=?= message of "Mon, 1 Aug 2016 20:26:36 +0200") List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: guix-devel@gnu.org Hello, Tom=C3=A1=C5=A1 =C4=8Cech skribis: > On Mon, Aug 01, 2016 at 06:09:12PM +0200, Ludovic Court=C3=A8s wrote: >>Hello, >> >>Tom=C3=A1=C5=A1 =C4=8Cech skribis: >> >>> Ping after week - is there interest in this patch? >> >>I didn=E2=80=99t comment on the patch specifically because I thought my r= eply >>might make you change your mind. ;-) >> >> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/guix-devel/2016-07/msg01241.html > > Thanks for that, I'm still trying to digest that bite. I'm sorry for > being a bit slow on Guile. No problem. Since you pinged, I thought you had digested it. ;-) >>All the packages used by the initrd are automatically part of the >>initrd. The proposed patch would allow people to add unused packages to >>the initrd. > > It is for the packages which you may want to use interactivelly in > case of failure or for some extra initrd hacking you may not want/be > able to write in Guile. > > Features like > - extra authentication > - full disk encryption > - root on NFS > - LVM :) > - ... OK but if you need these packages, for instance because you have a LUKS boot device, they=E2=80=99ll already be in the initrd. No need to manually= list them in #:extra-packages. >>Could you explain how/when this would be used? Maybe as commands for >>use by Bournish when it=E2=80=99s used as a rescue shell? > > I agree that it is more for debugging and to balance my inability to > express it in Guile but it lowers the barrier a bit. > > Bournish is too young to rely on it. I miss pipes, accessing files in > different directories or `ls' with wildcards. I can put in minimal > static busybox which is more than sufficient for rescue, problem > analysis or even data recovery. > > I like the idea of Bournish but I'd rather have an alternative > until it is more capable. I agree, but hopefully, you don=E2=80=99t run into Bournish too often? I guess my main concern (again, as a lazy maintainer) is the cost of turning =E2=80=98base-initrd=E2=80=99 into a kitchen sink, as discussed in = the other thread about #:extra-modules. I would prefer to provide simple tools that people can build upon, like =E2=80=98expression->initrd=E2=80=99 or the =E2=80=98raw-initrd=E2=80=99 pr= ocedure I proposed, than trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all procedure with many parameters. WDYT? Thanks, Ludo=E2=80=99.