Re: /run/, resolvconf and read-only root

[Thomas Hood <jdthood0@yahoo.co.uk>]

On Mon, 2003-05-05 at 19:13, Marco d'Itri wrote:
> Agreed. If /run is needed, I think it can be easily confined in its own
> package providing the directory, the init script needed to mount ramfs
> on it and the symlinks from /etc/mtab, /etc/nologin and such.
> I think that the /run proponents should first try this, and they will
> discover that with much less work and definitely much less disagremeent
> it will fix most of their problems.

I'm glad you agree that, even if we don't go the /run/ route,
all variable files in /etc/ should be relocatable.  (By 'relocate'
I mean: replace with a symlink to a new location.)  Several
variable files in /etc/ are not currently relocatable, including
mtab (See #53829 et al.) and resolv.conf (See #187810).
Fortunately, ifstate is already relocatable.

If /etc/ is going to be recognized as a place where we can put
early-used variable files then it would be helpful if it were
eventually written into policy that they must be relocatable.

Thanks for the suggestion that ro-root be implemented in a package.
Once the variable files in /etc/ are all relocatable, such a
package could be made, I suppose.

Question:  Does relocating a file count as "modifying" it for the
purposes of policy 11.7.4?  If so then each file must be relocated
by means of an interface exported by the owning package.  If not
then the new package could go ahead and relocate the files without
modifying their contents.

-- 
Thomas Hood <jdthood0@yahoo.co.uk>