Re: Possible ITP: Rescue Package
On Mon, Jul 26, 1999 at 05:40:51PM -0400, Dale Scheetz wrote:
> > This is the only way for "init", because you can only change it at the
> > bootprompt which defeats the idea (think of newbies, or remote
> > administration).
>
> I hadn't thought about init, but I guess I _do_ need to include it,
> possibly as the only true replacement. There is only one copy of init
> running isn't there?
Yes, and it does almost nothing but waiting for getty to exit and to switch
runlevels.
> So it's a one time penalty? To get the benefit of
> recovery, you have to install it, and yes, I guess the only way to make it
> work right would be diversion, but I'd really prefer something better.
>
> There are really two circumstances here:
>
> 1. Your system gets hosed but the kernel is still up and running, say,
> from a broken libc6 upgrade. Init is already loaded, so it will keep
> running just fine even though it is dynamicly linked, right? So you only
> need the other utilities for this.
Yes.
> 2. Under a hard crash, where a driver corrupts the libc6 file itself, and
> dies, locking up the kernel; you have to reboot, and init will not work.
> (you probably also need to be at the machine to do this, as remote isn't
> likely to work at this point in the game)
Hey, that's the point. Try to make eveything work remotely. Locally, I can
use a boot disk as well, so your work is much more useful if it can be
exploited for systems administrated remotely.
> You implied that there was a way to point the kernel at an alternate init.
> Is this something that could be done in a lilo entry, so that a "rescue"
> image and init could be isolated in this fashion?
append="init=/sbin/rescue.init"
should work, I think.
And about the list of programs: If you forget "ed", the standard editor, you
will get whopped by hundreds of die hard system administrators. I mean it.
Don't forget it.
Marcus
--
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