Re: [PATCH v5] init: Disable defaults if init= fails

Chuck Ebbert
2014-09-30T12:12:11Z

On Sun, 28 Sep 2014 19:40:31 -0700
Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> wrote:

> If a user puts init=/whatever on the command line and /whatever
> can't be run, then the kernel will try a few default options before
> giving up. If init=/whatever came from a bootloader prompt, then
> this is unexpected but probably harmless. On the other hand, if it
> comes from a script (e.g. a tool like virtme or perhaps a future
> kselftest script), then the fallbacks are likely to exist, but
> they'll do the wrong thing. For example, they might unexpectedly
> invoke systemd.
>
> This makes a failure to run the specified init= process be fatal.
>
> As a temporary measure, users can set CONFIG_INIT_FALLBACK=y to
> preserve the old behavior. If no one speaks up, we can remove that
> option entirely after a release or two.
>

I like it. Now users could even use:

rdinit=foo init=bar

If foo fails, bar will be tried as a fallback, and nothing else after
that.