net-pf-1 and LILO

[Andrew n marshall <amarshal@zig.usc.edu>]

After a recent problem with my Debian testing system, I have to question
the thought process behind two build decision in the Debian packages.  

First off, in the kernel, why is net-pf-1 included as a module?  Just
about every system needs Unix Sockets to run well. And in my case, I was
using the Debian CD as a rescue disk to boot my own system where net-pf-1
was required my another kernel option to boot. When the rescue disk
couldn't find net-pf-1 attempted to write to a ksymoops log, but because
the root partition was still in it's first read-only pass, I got caught in
an infinite loop of (roughly):
  modprobe: Can't locate module net-pf-1
  modprobe: cannot create /var/log/ksymoops/20010323.log

Secondly, I'm surprised the default install of LILO is not statically
built, considering it role in booting, and therefore often fixing a bad
MBR.  The current testing LILO (21.7) now won't run from the 2.2r2 rescue
disks, which is a real pain.

Can anyone explain or support these design decisions?



Anm