Comment # 23 on bug 1202353 from Michal Suchanek

(In reply to Martin Wilck from comment #22)

> Btw: why does the kernel use run_if_exists in %preun/%postun/%posttrans but
> not in %pre/%post?

Because these fix an ordering problem when 'upgrading' to a SLE release that
does not have new enough s-m-t and removing the kernel that requires the
external scriptlets at the same time.

Then on uninstall (preun/postun) the scriptlets may not be available.

They should in fact be available at posttrans because it runs only on install,
not uninstall which makes it kind of useless.

At installation time (pre/post) there is no reason to not order the
installation correctly.

> Does it make sense to have a kernel but not dracut? IMO yes, if you don't
> intend to update the kernel.

And the use case is what exactly?

In a container you do not have a kernel at all.

In an imm������table image that is replaced whole if you have the kernel you also
need the ramdisk, and need to build it. What/when/how does build the ramdisk?

While it's possible to build the ramdisk and remove dracut afterwards to reduce
the image size do we have such fine-tuned pipeline anywhere?

AFAIK even on 'transactional' systems the ramdisk is built on the target.

And finally, if neither the kernel nor s-m-t pulls in dracut what does?

Does potential space saving in a use case we do not have warrant enabling users
of use cases we do have shooting themselves in the foot?