Bug#369966: kernel-image-2.6: Unusable initrd.img is generated when /dev/null is a regular file

["Salvador E. Tropea" <salvador@inti.gov.ar>]

Package: kernel-image-2.6
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable

When the configuration creates the initrd.img file it seems to copy the 
/dev/null to the cramfs file. But if the system contains a wrong 
/dev/null the generated initrd.img is unusable.

The problem seems to be in the fact that some of the scripts in the 
initrd.img relies on /dev/null and if that isn't a device they fail 
aborting the boot process (kernel panic attempting to kill init or 
something like that).

I know that /dev/null should be a device and I don't know how it became
a regular file, but the initrd.img should be created with a proper 
/dev/null device even when the system have a bogus one. That's because
the system can work (with small glitches) but the kernel won't boot
if the initrd.img contains it.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.8-3-k7
Locale: LANG=es_AR, LC_CTYPE=es_AR (charmap=ISO-8859-1) (ignored: LC_ALL set to es_AR)