Bug#533903: initramfs-tools: support different compression tools in mkinitramfs

[Michael Prokop <mika@debian.org>]

Package: initramfs-tools
Version: 0.93.3
Severity: wishlist


Current kernel versions support different decompression options for
kernel and initrd:

  CONFIG_DECOMPRESS_GZIP
  CONFIG_DECOMPRESS_BZIP2
  CONFIG_DECOMPRESS_LZMA

initramfs-tools currently supports gzip only. I'd like to see
support for bzip2 and lzma as well, as both of them provide better
compression (which is especially interesting for live systems).

IMHO the user should get gzip by default (if unset) but be able to
choose between gzip, bzip2 and lzma. Something like
COMPRESSION=[gzip|bzip2|lzma] in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf
should provide that.

I plan to provide the according code for integration (though I'm
running out of time right now, so it might need a few days/weeks).
Please ACK my idea if that's in your interest. If have any special
configuration variable / implementation wishes please let me know.

regards,
-mika-