Re: rootdelay=9 kernal option - why?
On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 12:28 PM, Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:12:03 -0400, francis picabia wrote:
>
>> On most of my older systems, I've needed to add the option rootdelay=9
>> to make the system boot when upgrading to the kernel and such for
>> squeeze. Without it, the root file system is not found and it drops you
>> into the initramfs prompt.
>
> Mmm, yes, it is documented:
>
> 4.6.3. Boot timing issues
> http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/release-notes/ch-upgrading.en.html#boot-timing
Thanks for the link...
This type of documentation can always be found if you
already know the problem and solution, but it is invisible
if you only have a symptom. I was already expecting it
this time, but the first time I encountered it I took some
time to find the problem. The better way to describe it is to include
details on what kind of failure you will see, with some parts of the text
as it appears on the screen. I would not call it "boot timing issues",
but rather "No root file system on boot, drops to initramfs prompt".
Calling it merely "a debug shell" is too vague and does not match
google searches. People discussing it in forums and mailing
lists match the search terms, while the Debian release notes do not.
I generally print out the release notes prior to upgrade. In particular,
it might help to place this in chapter 5 rather than 4. Chapter 5
is "Issues to be aware of for squeeze". As this didn't happen in
Debian 5, I would think it belongs there.
There has been some improvement on the errors shown on the screen
lately, with at least 3 potential problems listed when this goes sour,
and one of them is the rootdelay option.
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