RFC: Reboot behavior for kexec-tools package
Hello,
I implemented automatic kexec reboot support to kexec-tools package many
years ago when Debian used init. It worked well except for some corner
cases. To support this, I also added a package config option to enable
kexec reboots on reboot command. Since Debian started using systemd,
automatic kexec reboot had been hit or miss depending upon the changes
in systemd. I got it back to working state by requiring users to do
kexec reboots using "systemctl kexec". Now Debian has switched to
systemd fully and I am removing init scripts from kexec-tools package.
Systemd maintainers made a change to systemctl command around 2021 that
caused "systemctl kexec" to no longer work the same way again. In short,
systemctl now has taken over the task of loading a kexec kernel which
was previously delegated to systemd service provided by kexec-tools.
systemctl loads kexec'able kernel only on the systems that support boot
loader spec which Debian does not. Now kexec-tools package no longer has
working automatic kexec reboot.
To solve this problem in a reliable and consistent way, I am considering
changing the way kexec reboots are handled by kexec-tools package.
Current behavior (when it worked) is:
- If config option "Should kexec-tools handle reboots?" is set to true,
a reboot command will cause a kexec reboot.
- With config option "Should kexec-tools handle reboots?" set to true, a
cold reboot requires using the command "coldreboot" which is a script
installed by kexec-tools package.
I want to change the behavior to:
- No package config option to do automatic kexec reboot.
- "reboot" command causes a cold reboot
- Use "kexec-reboot" command to do a kexec reboot. "kexec-reboot" is a
script installed by kexec-tools package.
- kexec-tools package no longer provides coldreboot script which is no
longer necessary.
Any comments/feedback? I intend to proceed with implementing new
behavior next week after Wednesday unless there are objections or other
ideas.
Thanks,
Khalid
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