From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261345AbVFMERP (ORCPT ); Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:17:15 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261346AbVFMERP (ORCPT ); Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:17:15 -0400 Received: from willy.net1.nerim.net ([62.212.114.60]:45068 "EHLO willy.net1.nerim.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261345AbVFMERK (ORCPT ); Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:17:10 -0400 Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 06:17:05 +0200 From: Willy Tarreau To: David Lang Cc: subbie subbie , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: optional delay after partition detection at boot time Message-ID: <20050613041705.GD8907@alpha.home.local> References: <20050612071213.GG28759@alpha.home.local> <20050612101514.81433.qmail@web30707.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <20050612102726.GA8470@alpha.home.local> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Sun, Jun 12, 2005 at 07:22:45PM -0700, David Lang wrote: > On Sun, 12 Jun 2005, Willy Tarreau wrote: > > > - you don't know the root device, so the kernel will > > panic at boot because it cannot find the root device. > > In this case, you have the partition list still on > > the screen as it's among the latest things in the > > boot order. And if your kernel reboots upon panic, > > just boot it with panic=30 so get 30 seconds to read > > the partition table. > > I have one machine inmy lab that turns out to need to boot from /dev/sdq1 > > trust me, that partition info has LONG since scrolled off the screen by > the time it fails to mount and panics. Interesting. How many total partitions do you have ? I ask this because David Alan Gilbert proposed a patch to dump the partition list on the screen upon panic. Perhaps it's larger than the screen in you case ? If you have more than 25 partitions, to you think they can fit with 2 or 3 columns ? > I ended up setting up a serial console to capture the boot to figure this > machine out, but that's a pretty extreme measure to have to go to. > > David Lang > > P.S. I had to do this after grub failed to mount by label (my guess is > that grub only looks at so many drives before giving up on finding the > label) so don't tell me that I should just use labels and then I wouldn't > have to worry about this type of thing I wouldn't tell you that, I *hate* labels. It causes lots of problems when you simply move some disks between machines. Regards, Willy