[archlinux testing news] / usr support in a separate section

    Hello habra

    Along with the release, mkinitcpio 0.8.2 added support for mounting / usr from early userspace if / usr is located on a separate partition. Whoever shouted the loudest there was “we want a feature, the essence is this ..”, well, now it is there and it needs to be tested.

    To work, you need two things:




    1) Enable the shutdown hook in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. It will copy the contents of initramfs to / run / initramfs during boot and add a small script (SUDDENLY called shutdown). On shutdown, initscripts will mount the filesystems API in / run / initramfs, switch to this new root, and then unmount the real file systems in a row.

    At the time of writing, all this works as stupidly as possible. Complex systems such as LVM are not understood, and encryption mappings are not closed. Perhaps this will be added in the next release.

    2) Add the fsck hook to /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. If / usr has a file system that is different from the root file system, you need to add it before autodetect. If you do not add this hook, a lot of sad things can happen (and after that you will go to cry that Archa is for the red-eyed, and you need to blame Debian Stable urgently :). Perhaps in the next release, the hook will become smart enough to process binaries only from the root and / usr.

    This fsck hook is recommended for absolutely everyone, not just those with a separate / usr. Running fsck in early userspace means that the drive can be checked before mounting - so you can repair it without rebooting.

    When using systemd, everything should work exactly the same. The shutdown script is ignored, and the root will not be double-checked due to the presence of a signal file that appears in / run / initramfs.

    (Responsible for the disgrace is Dave Reisner.)

    Happy new updates, gentlemen!

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