From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, HTML_MESSAGE,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 28046 invoked from network); 4 Sep 2023 17:20:52 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 4 Sep 2023 17:20:52 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A0D6641022; Tue, 5 Sep 2023 03:20:48 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-lf1-x12a.google.com (mail-lf1-x12a.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:4864:20::12a]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B573F4001F for ; Tue, 5 Sep 2023 03:20:43 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-lf1-x12a.google.com with SMTP id 2adb3069b0e04-500cefc3644so2797473e87.3 for ; Mon, 04 Sep 2023 10:20:43 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=bsdimp-com.20230601.gappssmtp.com; s=20230601; t=1693848042; x=1694452842; darn=tuhs.org; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=mFNus6YusH65Weywfu5h+c6W1ee3u/oBg8cYyA+JflM=; b=O116TTBfFeyb63Hbocrr69X2VS53xg3exmPdRls+IkE1cdCj2n9NvQ26uRFuLbRJmd NPFiLrNd9vcpXQM09x8gfrqN7Fn0w4MsEin8amNVndJ7/wYCi35pnWY+upcyDBLTbXTa S4KHJWfJIi7hDlF9FFkY1vwhPxkQSJgQ5L/unR7UGCAc7qF0H3r/Y5uOz7sYkTJ71puf WXn1CPU6iAxKqXL94JBgHqtZCNx1kAG/yvdHClY/e1qTz0t0jfFiXKkyYnEMISftzzr7 2kIkrDPjIknEUvvUPWYR/F+CFYrSUgpvEHIbvBbxUPMjvkJBY8G5sBtGcecXveFiir1I 05FA== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20221208; t=1693848042; x=1694452842; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :reply-to; bh=mFNus6YusH65Weywfu5h+c6W1ee3u/oBg8cYyA+JflM=; b=ggZisxhEUgFqEFWtka8WjfFOV+4SI6gYFvRpJCy3eB/O1FUHbU6/VgMdVpxX9O4VGP z2KVJngMlisfXfy+v4wUnR1MG5mv48rZYYyh3/nKFd6Kx0VkS7CrVT1sO+D/G51PWXoI G5Z03P7y5zgPdVr7T90QSochUxm+7NkzaSYy5jOGClK4NuQ2hZ+agJM2dYlYo1UYVb/N h54Vn0sq0g8FJto8Z9sisQKI5UZTbE0yMgSbKZnWQ2Iv58GZ5qYhb8z7epwDqcY0wPex 5dcZrxR/4PqHJfDqthvTBjpb67e0frJ7h5gcWOowL5/xA0zAdW4q5iPHFrfafMOz2Vyq KRBg== X-Gm-Message-State: AOJu0YyTLhZ5Um7iuMyBsbEZ0RMxcAw3egsPArw2sj+VcfVEgo5PdF6G 1U7UOXBnrUp4WboZ96SY/5BmVQzb4BtehaB3ADJcLtT+o/5ZOl15 X-Google-Smtp-Source: AGHT+IFDon9/Sy2Nc3jCVKRxrPH0oXOcSS9Cj/YLqt6YeLP8YrAeLXdSoA5ts7GkNQZ9RD5azvUyxYosmK7W0uJXaEY= X-Received: by 2002:a05:6512:2347:b0:4fb:99d9:6ba2 with SMTP id p7-20020a056512234700b004fb99d96ba2mr7687964lfu.24.1693848040829; Mon, 04 Sep 2023 10:20:40 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <9A989054DE79CE5059CBA74797391E39.for-standards-violators@oclsc.org> In-Reply-To: From: Warner Losh Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2023 11:20:31 -0600 Message-ID: To: Vincenzo Nicosia Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000c7147906048bba25" Message-ID-Hash: KUBEXXQ5DXVF2VZWOTYSYDPUG7HCP5ZA X-Message-ID-Hash: KUBEXXQ5DXVF2VZWOTYSYDPUG7HCP5ZA X-MailFrom: wlosh@bsdimp.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header CC: tuhs@tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Unix install & "standalone" package List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: --000000000000c7147906048bba25 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 8:56=E2=80=AFAM Vincenzo Nicosia wrote: > rather, back then you didn't need the same kernel to run on a wide > variety of hardware, with all the possible different combinations of > peripherals, requiring all sorts of different drivers. > > I think that's the only real reason why initramfs came to existence: > allowing a selection of kernel modules to be loaded at init time, > depending on the hardware at disposal on that machine. Then things went > south, and more recent initramfs have everything and the kitchen sink. > But that's another story. Yea, it was an effort to move mounting of root out of the kernel. The earliest scripts just mounted the right disk and moved on, and didn't load any new drivers: they just had the logic to pick the desired root. But at the same time, there were a lot of people that were running on 4MB and 8MB systems that noticed they could put all the router software in the initramfs and never pivot to something else and they could have quite the product with that. And thos= e were the first few bricks that paved the road to hell :) Warner --000000000000c7147906048bba25 Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable


=
On Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 8:56=E2=80=AFA= M Vincenzo Nicosia <katolaz@frea= knet.org> wrote:
rather, back then you didn't need the same kernel to run on a w= ide
variety of hardware, with all the possible different combinations of
peripherals, requiring all sorts of different drivers.

I think that's the only real reason why initramfs came to existence: allowing a selection of kernel modules to be loaded at init time,
depending on the hardware at disposal on that machine. Then things went
south, and more recent initramfs have everything and the kitchen sink.
But that's another story.

Yea, it was a= n effort to move mounting of root out of the kernel. The earliest
scripts just mounted the right disk and moved on, and didn't load any = new
drivers: they just had the logic to pick the desired root. Bu= t at the same time,
there were a lot of people that were running = on 4MB and 8MB=C2=A0 systems that
noticed they could put all the = router software in the initramfs and never pivot
to something els= e and they could have quite the product with that. And those
were= the first few bricks that paved the road to hell :)

Warner
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