Bug#596015: initramfs-tools: provide support for scsi_wait_scan
Package: initramfs-tools
Version: 0.98.2
Severity: wishlist
scsi_wait_scan is a kernel module that waits until all the async
scans are complete.
Debian kernel as well as the ones from other Debian based distros
usually have this stuff compiled as a kernel module and not
statically into the kernel (which is good, because under certain
conditions scsi_wait_scan *could* fail maybe, and disabling the
compiled in driver doesn't seem to be possible).
I just got a bugreport against Grml, stating that Grml as well as
Debian and Ubuntu Server fail to boot on recent IBM BladeCenter HS22
hardware. Having scsi_wait_scan statically compiled into the kernel
is known to fix this problem. Instead of going this approach I'd
recommend to implement proper support for that in our i-t (which is
also the way to go according to the module's source).
My recommendation is to run "modprobe scsi_wait_scan" by default and
provide a bootoption like "noscsiwait" to skip this part if wanted.
(Optionally we could also try to rmmod the module after a long period
of time hanging in the init process, in case we notice that there
*might* be problems with autoloading the module; though I'm not yet sure
whether this would really work, haven't looked into the details yet).
I would volunteer to implement that and provide an according Grml
ISO with that feature to the bugreporter for proper testing.
What do you think of that? maks?
regards,
-mika-
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