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Date:      Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:37:38 -0700
From:      Matthew Jacob <mj@feral.com>
To:        freebsd-arch@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: RFC: enhancing the root mount logic
Message-ID:  <4C734C92.4010105@feral.com>
In-Reply-To: <20100824043344.CA4DE5B56@mail.bitblocks.com>
References:  <AFBE2FCA-30A6-4E1D-A964-AC4DC4C843EB@juniper.net>	<20100823.171201.107001114053031707.imp@bsdimp.com>	<8C76250B-E272-4807-BD0D-9F50D0BC5E10@mac.com>	<20100824002350.042A45B3B@mail.bitblocks.com>	<4CB9F7C8-39E8-4C3B-A3F8-A5A9EC178E7D@mac.com> <20100824043344.CA4DE5B56@mail.bitblocks.com>

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Yes, this is the RedHat root pivot goop that's been around for ages.

It turns out to be a massive PITA, because the initrd image can get out 
of sync with the kernel and hardware, and since some of the modules can 
be loaded from there, but not from the root filesystem there is a 
definite possibility (which has happened with more times than I care to 
remember) that you'll get hosed and not be able to mount your root 
filesystem.

This actually can happen so easily that when I install CentOS or Fedora, 
I override the defaults and put the root filesystem on a plain 
partition/filesystem rather than as part of an LVM2 volume.

> BTW, a friend tells me this is what Linux does (or more
> likely, what they used in their server startup). Basically a
> ramdisk with init + loadable drivers + tools needed to get
> going.  Once the actual root fs device is found (even if
> disks got switched around etc.) they switched to the actual
> root.
>
>    




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