serial console options problem -- is a kernel or init problem?

[Jeffrey Layton <jtlayton@poochiereds.net>]

I've noticed the following problem on all of my Debian machines that are
set up for a serial console. This includes several 2.4 kernel revs and
at least 1 2.6.0-test kernel rev. This leads me to think that this might
not be a kernel problem, but a sysvinit issue. If anyone can point me in
the right direction of where to file a bug report (or if I've not got
something set up correctly), I'd be much obliged:

If I boot with the following option in the kernel command line, all
kernel and boot messages (output from rc scripts) get redirected to the
serial port:

console=ttyS0

However, if I pass in serial communication options, like this:

console=ttyS0,9600

...or...

console=ttyS0,9600n8

Kernel messages still get redirected to the serial port, but output from
the rc scripts go to the virtual console (tty0) and not to the serial
port. I also see these errors on the serial console:

modprobe: Can't locate module /dev/tts/0,9600
modprobe: Can't locate module /dev/ttyS0,9600

...or...

modprobe: Can't locate module /dev/tts/0,9600n8
modprobe: Can't locate module /dev/ttyS0,9600n8

I've done a little poking around in the rc scripts, but didn't
see any way to correct this problem.

Is this a bug? If so, is it a kernel or userspace bug?
If it's a userspace bug, in what package does it likely lie?

Any explanation of how the boot messages get redirected to the
correct console would be helpful.

Thanks,
Jeff