On Thu, Jan 30, 2014 at 09:15:11AM -0500, Phillip Susi wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On 1/30/2014 3:16 AM, Karel Zak wrote: > > everyone switched to our switch_root :-) > > Except apparently for the systemd folks, which for some odd reason > like the idea of keeping around the initrd for the life of the system > so init can "return" to it ( yuck! ). > To be clear, systemd uses the syscall, not the util-linux utility. I'm not sure why you think this is a poor idea when it, in fact, solves real problems. If your root filesystem resides on a stacked block device (mdadm, lvm, dmraid, dm-crypt), this is the *only* way to cleanly umount the filesystem for disassembly. Remounting the filesystem read-only might not be enough. Results of not doing this vary. If your root is dm-crypt, you open up more possibilities of cold boot attacks. If you use mdadm for a fakeraid array, your fakeraid controller might insist on rebuilding the array on the next reboot which could take hours. > > Anyway, I don't see any info about pivot_root syscall deprecation > > in Linux kernel source tree. > > Me neither, but then why switch_root? I thought the whole reason it > came about was because Linus et al considered pivot_root() to have > been a terrible idea. My understanding is that pivot_root is a relic from the days of /dev/initrd. Since 2.6 and the introduction of initramfs, it's no longer needed for this purpose. d -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe util-linux" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
