https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=433015 Summary: mkinitrd performance / module list changes Product: openSUSE 11.1 Version: Factory Platform: Other OS/Version: Other Status: NEW Severity: Normal Priority: P5 - None Component: Basesystem AssignedTo: hare@novell.com ReportedBy: agruen@novell.com QAContact: qa@suse.de CC: jsrain@novell.com, mmarek@novell.com, jreidinger@novell.com Found By: --- An initrd contains a list of modules for the boot kernel. There are a number of situations in which that list changes, and the initrd needs to be updated: * Kernel packages get installed (so the initrd can be created), or updated (modules may get replaced. * The modprobe.conf configuration changes (for blocking particular modules or changing the priorities among several compatible modules). * Kernel module packages (kmps) get installed, replacing existing modules or making required modules available. Previously, KMPs were the major triggers for recreating initrds, but with the recent kernel package split, the number of cases in which we may need to recreate the initrd has increased. The heuristics for figuring out when recreating the initrd is necessary are all more or less broken, and so we will en dup running mkinitrd repeatedly during a normal system install, during kernel package updated, and during KMP installs, even if the initrd isn't actually affected. With the current mkinitrd, this will be slow. I propose to change mkinitrd as follows to speed things up: * When creating an initrd, in addition to what mkinitrd does now, it saves the list of kernel modules used into a separate file, including the file size and time of last modification (stat --format='%Y %s %n' or similar). * When asked to create the same initrd again, it computes the same list, and before actually recreating the initrd, it checks if the old and new lists are the same. If the lists are the same (and none of the mkinitrd scriptlets have changed, the initrd file still exists and hasn't changed itself, etc.), mkinitrd simply does nothing. This would allow us to get rid of the weak heuristics currently used. Does this sound acceptable? -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.