Re: apex minutia

[Marc Singer <elf@buici.com>]

On Tue, Aug 15, 2006 at 10:47:20PM +0200, Martin Michlmayr wrote:
> * Marc Singer <elf@buici.com> [2006-08-14 11:05]:
> > Martin, you asked that I remove the root=/dev/ram option from the
> > default kernel command line stored by APEX.  I wonder if this is
> > really a good idea.
> > 
> > If it doesn't matter to initramfs (that which you plan to use) and it
> > allows for an initrd, and it won't impede booting to the target root
> > filesystem, what is the harm?
> > 
> > Put another way, might it not be wise to *allow* the use of an initrd
> > ramdisk?
> 
> People can always manually pass a root=/dev/ram parameter if they need
> to start an initrd.  The downside of always passing root=/dev/ram if
> root is not set in the environment is that imho starting the Debian
> initramfs with root=/dev/ram is worse than starting it without any
> root option at all.  I might be wrong though; maybe it doesn't make a
> difference in real life.

I'm not following your reasoning.

Let's say for the moment, that root=/dev/ram is always passed by APEX
to the initrd/initramfs.  In this case, all someone has to do is
replace the ramdisk partition with either an initrd image, or an
initramfs image.  The system will boot in either case.  The user
doesn't have to edit the APEX environment or reflash APEX.

I don't know what initramfs will do if it is given root=/dev/ram.  If
this is a problem, then by all means, let's not pass the option.  If
it doesn't matter, what is the harm?

So, the question is this: what do you mean by 

  The downside of always passing root=/dev/ram if root is not set in the
  environment is that imho starting the Debian initramfs with
  root=/dev/ram is worse than starting it without any root option at
  all.

Worse how?