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Re: Bug#84074: ifupdown writes to /etc... a bug?



In article <[🔎] 20030310170031.GA12777@evbergen.xs4all.nl>,
Emile van Bergen  <emile-deb@evbergen.xs4all.nl> wrote:
>* add /mem, which is RAM-based, writable /very/ early

You should use /dev/shm with a shmfs. The location has been standarized,
shmfs shrinks and grows as needed so never takes more memory than
needed, and shmfs data can be put into swap.

Downside: works only with 2.4.x. kernels.

>  and initialised
>  in full from /var/mem at bootup, allowing the admin to define a desired
>  initial state;

Right ... but /var isn't available at boot. That's kind of the
point of this whole discussion. Debian should define an initial
state and create it (just one or two directories, I guess)
using an init script at early boot.

But then you could go all the way and have /var/bootstate
as I described. It could be a symlink to /dev/shm/bootstate,
and as soon as the real /var is mounted over it the link
dissapears and the real /var/bootstate appears, at that point
it is easy to copy /dev/shm/bootstate back to it, voila.

This is all trivial to implement. A few lines of scripting.
The hard thing is: what about systems with a 2.2 kernel ?
Or older 2.4 kernels, where shmfs was still a configurable
option (in later 2.4 kernels you can't turn it off)

Mike.
-- 
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should
on no account be allowed to do the job -- Douglas Adams.



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