---------------------------------------- From: Giancarlo Razzolini <grazzolini@archlinux.org> Sent: Thu Oct 31 19:30:42 CET 2019 To: General Discussion about Arch Linux <arch-general@archlinux.org>, Geo Kozey <geokozey@mailfence.com> Subject: Re: [arch-general] new packaging of the kernel/mkinitcpio/kmod
There are several reasons for not using it. It's overly complex, it does a lot of assumptions for you, among other things. That doesn't mean it *can't* be used by the users. We are taking baby steps on making the booting process on Arch overall more flexible.
You can *right now* completely override the mkinitcpio hooks and, install and deal with the kernel *any* way you want. Want to not use /boot? Can do. Want to stuff everything on /efi? Can do. Want a hook that will build your efistub and update entries? Can do. This update opens up lots of possibilities, while also maintaining (some) backward compatibility.
I'm planning a few changes [0] to mkinitcpio, to make this even more flexible. Also, as I've mentioned, dracut should receive soon, hooks similar to those mkinitcpio did, with a few differences of course. But, since the most important part for keeping most user's systems booting is the actual kernel installation, if you opt to override either the mkinitcpio hooks or dracut's, it will be your job to make sure you install the kernel to wherever you want it.
Regards, Giancarlo Razzolini
Thx, my concern was more about maintenance burden for Arch devs vs relying on dracut + kernel-install combo and call it a day. If devs prefer to work on exclusive service for Arch users then let it be. Yours sincerely G. K.