From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C76DF1381F3 for ; Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:42:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8A42CE0FB1; Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:42:02 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-pd0-f177.google.com (mail-pd0-f177.google.com [209.85.192.177]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 66354E0F02 for ; Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:42:01 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-pd0-f177.google.com with SMTP id y10so2441594pdj.8 for ; Fri, 16 Aug 2013 09:42:00 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id :subject:to:content-type; bh=UQNNwZsri0B2RBZQ4BRq0Ut1CzdoDJ5Ov5d3D2mKsFE=; b=D/Jkg8Sz6QAe29X1XMyilz1fd3gw/QOx0EX/hCvjIg93EEKp1++FlplAjleB4BDoUl 4qCvCASYBHlyTnmNuhmjQEeGnEjDNk8sY7MdgLJq4dlViJwKxmphGIsts24sHCs3fo8K 79RpndG2WN1wEc/mcqUxpNhjPyRqpTv/UqbjgAOprG2J7J/YY+LV78x95H9cTzL92p8r +wGlDdlUck1tMCtB8M61gj/T1tGj5ntO/l/InEEbtkrGg8D0g1at8AEMq6oBk/yfEQue 4ooGiQPL5joTEl3e618t4EdfgqJLG/9O2i2Uv55npVxF3YzRHMurJVrl69CuuvSdaZcs kT2Q== X-Received: by 10.66.189.98 with SMTP id gh2mr4120777pac.60.1376671320267; Fri, 16 Aug 2013 09:42:00 -0700 (PDT) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Sender: paul.hartman@gmail.com Received: by 10.70.88.239 with HTTP; Fri, 16 Aug 2013 09:41:40 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <520E3F83.7030005@libertytrek.org> References: <520A5446.1050001@mail.ru> <520DA782.4050803@sporkbox.us> <520E1C9E.70202@libertytrek.org> <520E38AC.4030500@libertytrek.org> <520E3F83.7030005@libertytrek.org> From: Paul Hartman Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 11:41:40 -0500 X-Google-Sender-Auth: 45xJhKIHcJD7lJqH6xnGy1Hl6A0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: How hard is it to move separate /usr to / partition? - WAS Re: [gentoo-user] Optional /usr merge in Gentoo To: Gentoo User Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Archives-Salt: a42bbf14-b8c5-4022-9ad6-49dfbc3c06e4 X-Archives-Hash: 7b3414bd705ad6cfc76d45646287f7d6 On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 10:04 AM, Tanstaafl wrote: >> And really, maybe you could try an initramfs? It will be much more >> easy than any juggle of filesystems. > > > I always compile my kernels manually, by choice - so, no desire to use > genkernel or dracut. > > How would I then create one? I am *not* a programmer, just a reasonably > competent general sys admin. > > Is there a 'generic' one that I can use? Or is there a separate tool that > will create one based on my system profile (or whatever)? I think dracut is actually exactly the tool you are looking for. It does not have anything to do with building your kernel, its sole job in life is to generate an initramfs built to your specifications. It contains sane defaults but you can tweak it to include or exclude things as you see fit. I build my kernel by hand and then run dracut afterward to generate the initramfs.img. I believe mounting /usr is enabled by default in dracut. I would recommend checking out the documentation and seeing all the different options and modules that are available so you can customize it to match your needs. For example you may want to have it import your LVM configuration, assemble a RAID, use the reiserfs or btrfs filesystem, etc. Once it generates the initramfs it's as simple as adding a line to your grub config and off you go. If it doesn't work right away you can just comment out that line and boot without it, for now, while your existing setup is still valid. (It took me a few reboots to find the right combination of options.) Then someday if separate /usr is no longer allowed without an initramfs, you'll be prepared for it. I always regenerate my initramfs using dracut after every time i build a new kernel, but I'm not sure if that's truly necessary. Honestly it's all still a bit of a black box to me.