[Stephen Gallagher]

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On Tue 29 Jan 2013 09:45:34 AM EST, Jaroslav Reznik wrote:
> = Features/DracutHostOnly =
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/DracutHostOnly
>
> Feature owner(s): Harald Hoyer <harald at redhat.com>
>
> Only create "host-only" initramfs images. A generic fallback image should be
> installed by anaconda on installation/update and never ever be removed.
>
> == Detailed description ==
> Current initramfs images contain most of the kernel drivers to boot from any
> hardware. This results in a very big initramfs, which takes a long time to
> load on system start and a long time to create on kernel updates. Switching to
> host-only will improve the situation. To cope with hardware change, a boot
> entry "Rescue System" should be installed with a full fledged initramfs also
> containing debug tools. This boot entry can then be used to recover from
> hardware changes and also from unforseen software failure after updates.


This makes me nervous. Can we get some details on what comprises a
"hardware change" necessitating that the user use the Rescue System
mode?

- From the Feature page:
This Fedora release ships with an initramfs tailored especially for
your computer hardware. If you change your machine or significant
hardware, you might have to boot with the "Rescue System" boot entry
and execute "dracut --regenerate-all". If you want your initramfs to be
hardware independent, execute "ln -s /dev/null
/etc/dracut.conf.d/01-hostonly.conf".


Can we do anything to detect such hardware changes and run the
regeneration automatically? I'm wary of making changes that may result
in unbootable systems if someone doesn't remember to plug their
external hard drive in, for example.

Frankly, I'm not sure the faster boot is necessarily worth the
increased likelihood of boot failure. I think I might prefer that this
be available-but-not-default. Please convince me :)
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