[PATCH] mkinitrd rescue mode

[Jeffrey Layton]

I've opened a BZ ticket with a patch to add a rescue mode to the current
devel version of mkinitrd, but wanted to post a message about it here
since I know this is where most of the discussion occurs. The BZ ticket
with the patch is here:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=159287

Essentially this patch adds some functionality to mkinitrd and nash.
This adds some tools to the initrd images (busybox and fsck, in
particular), and adds a function to nash to allow running a shell before
the switchroot occurs.

This gives you some ability to troubleshoot booting problems, and gives
the ability to do some rescue-type work without having to boot to the
CD. This is a big plus for people that run boxes remotely and don't have
easy physical access to them.

The patch needs a little work,but a backported version basically worked
for me on RHEL4. I have not yet tested it on Fedora but it should
basically work there.

Essentially, I'm sending this to solicit some feedback on it. Anyone
have comments or concerns with this idea?

-- 
Jeffrey Layton <jlayton at redhat.com>