SEUL: Question about initrd kernel

[George Bonser <grep@oriole.sbay.org>]

Currently, I think that most questions about what to include in the kernel
and what not to include can be worked out when the time comes.  I want to
point out something that we should keep in mind if we go the route of
modularizing vital drivers needed for boot.

SCENARIO:  User needs PPtP support or some feature not included in the
kernal so must build a new one, possibly incorporating a patch.

make clean
make *config
make dep
make clean
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install

Does all the right things, puts everything in all the right places, runs
lilo reboots and now his system is useless.  He reads all the docs, did
not make a mistake, boots a rescue disk looks everything over, all looks
good but he can not from the disk any longer.

The modules in the binary root image that gets loaded into ram are no
longer compatable with his new kernel version and refuse to load.

If we go this route we must make DARNED SURE that the knows that most
linux documentation does not fully describe SEUL and that an additional
procedure of building a new ramdisk image must be done before reboot.

I just want it clear that everyone understand that there ARE users who are
going to want to take their linux box "off-road" and go four-wheeling with
it. If we introduce a complexity that can render a user who otherwise read
the documents and performed all the steps properly according to those docs
dead in the water, we need to be prepared to support that with additional
documentation and procedures that will allow the user 1) avoid the
situation at best or 2) recover from the situation at worst.

How long do you think it would be before we got our first " Hey, I just
installed that new kernel that Linus released yesterday that fixes the <*>
bug and now I can't boot.  My modules can not be loaded" question?

As long as we are aware of that possibillity and make decisions after
thourough testing of recovery schemes, I will feel better.


George Bonser 
If NT is the answer, you didn't understand the question. (NOTE: Stolen sig)
http://www.debian.org
Debian/GNU Linux ... the maintainable operating system.