Re: [gentoo-user] Re: After /usr conflation: why not copy booting software to /sbin rather than initramfs?

["Canek Peláez Valdés" <caneko@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 2:15 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:
>
>> Can you try doing
>>
>> dracut -H /boot/initramfs-<kernel version here>
>>
>> ??
>>
>> The man page from dracut says that -H is for the "current host"
>> instead of a "generic host". Maybe the "generic host" configuration is
>> messing up something with su that your actual host configuration
>> needs.
>>
>> I use -H. As I have ben saying, my initramfs it's pretty up in sync
>> with my normal system.
>>
>> Regards.
>
>
> Notice, I make the distinction between Console and Konsole by making the
> first letter capitalized.  It kind of gets confusing.  :/
>
> I had to reboot so I made a new init thingy with the -H switch.  It
> works in Console but nothing root works in KDE.  I get the same error.
> Heck, Konsole won't even try to come up much less ask for my password.
> Krusader asks for password and says that su is not in the path.  This is
> similar to what I got when I was in a Console too.
>
> So, boot without init thingy, everything works fine.  Boot with the init
> thingy, I can't access things in KDE as root.  All I do is reboot.  I
> don't change or edit anything other than selecting a different entry in
> grub.
>
> I use Konsole when I emerge and such as that.  I use Krusader, since
> Konqueror developed a bug, to edit config files.  I don't care to switch
> to a Console to emerge something or edit a config file.  This is not
> going to work for me long term.
>
> Also, keep in mind, I boot the EXACT same kernel whether I use the init
> thingy or not.  All I do is remove the stuff the init thingy needs to
> work.
>
> Go figure.

I'm a little confused: you log in KDE as a regular user, open a
Konsole, type "su -", and what happens?

What do you mean with "Konsole won't even try to come up"?

In the shell that Krusader provides (which I assume you run as a
regular user), what it's the result of "which su"? And also, what
happens when (inside the shell from Krusader) you run /bin/su?

If not for the fact that you say that in a virtual console su works, I
would be willing to suggest that your initramfs never does the
switch_root, and so you end up with the minimal / from the initramfs,
and your normal /usr. That would be beyond bizarre, but if you *can*
use su in a virtual console, then it should be there.

I usally log in in GNOME, open a gnome-terminal, and set a fixed
number of tabs in gnome-terminal where I "su -", and work as root in
there. I also can run an X11 program as root with "su -lc
/usr/bin/gedit", but I almost never do that (although it works; I just
checked).

I don't think I understand how do you use su. Could you explain it to
me, please?

One last thing: create a  directory /tmp/whatever, and inside it
unpack your initramfs:

zcat /boot/init-thingie | cpio -i

Could you do a "ls -R /tmp/whatever" so we can see what actually ends
up in yout initramfs?

Regards.
-- 
Canek Peláez Valdés
Posgrado en Ciencia e Ingeniería de la Computación
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México