Bug#2916: sysvinit & single boot == broken

[Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@cistron.nl>]

You (Craig Sanders) wrote:
> Package: sysvinit
> Version: 2.60-1
>
> Quick Summary
> -------------
>
> sysvinit runs way too much crap when booting in single user mode.
>
> When the LILO prompt came up again, I entered "linux single" to force
> single user mode.  Imagine my surprise when "fsck -A" started running
> again.  At this point I had a nasty sinking feeling, knowing that
> without a lot of stuffing around I wasn't going to be able to get a
> prompt.
>
> THERE WAS NO POSSIBLE WAY FOR ME TO GET A SHELL PROMPT WHICH I COULD HAVE
> USED TO REPAIR MY /USR PARTITION!

Ofcourse you cannot read the manual anymore at this point, but entering
"linux emergency" or "linux -b" (as on SunOS 4.1.x) instead of
"linux single" would have gotten you a shell straight from init, before
running _anything_ whatsoever.

See the section "BOOTFLAGS" in the init manual page.

Mike.
--
  Miquel van    | Cistron Internet Services   --    Alphen aan den Rijn.
  Smoorenburg,  | mailto:info@cistron.nl          http://www.cistron.nl/
miquels@het.net | Tel: +31-172-419445 (Voice) 430979 (Fax) 442580 (Data)