[systemd-devel] [PATCH] use systemd.debug on the kernel command line, not "debug"

[Florian Albrechtskirchinger]

On 03.04.2014 15:48, Colin Guthrie wrote:
> 'Twas brillig, and Florian Albrechtskirchinger at 03/04/14 11:53 did
> gyre and gimble:
>
>> I suggest we return the 'debug' option to the kernel folk and add a new
>> option 'dbg' with a string of single letter arguments. For example,
>> 'dbg=ki' (k for kernel, i for init) would activate debugging in the
>> kernel and the init system.
>> Further, r could be added for initrd debugging and 'dbg' on it's own
>> could default to 'dbg=kri'.
>
> I think this is a reasonable suggestion inline with the spirit of
> finding a compromise.
>
> You would first have to get agreement in principle from both sides that
> merging patches to support this would be OK.
Of course. I figured, I would start with the presumably easier side
first ;)

> I would suggest that instead of an argument you make dbg a general
> purpose debug namesapce prefix. So, dbg.k or dbg.kernel works on the
> kernel side, and dbg.i or dbg.init works on the systemd side with dbg.r
> and dbg.rd works on the the dracut side.
Style-wise I tend to agree, but I was going for brevity first and
foremost.

>> Wouldn't that make everyone happy?
>
> I doubt it. People would still disagree on what colour to make the
> argument text ;)
"Everyone" is a big crowd, should have said "more people", then maybe…

> Overall in this issue, I think one has to have a bit of pragmatism.
> I agree in principle that "debug" should be a generic term, but really
> there are bigger fights to fight and wasting energy on this battle
> really seems counter productive to the bigger picture.
Agreed. I'm only mildly interested because of the fresh memory of
typing 'debug rd.debug ...' repeatedly over a day. Would have been nice
to have - not worth fighting anyone, though.

> I think in this case, there is a little prior art to using "debug" on
> the kernel where dracut used a namespaced version rd.debug for it's
> debugging, so following that pattern systemd.debug seems logical enough.
It's definitely logical, but that's not my point at all.

> I know it would be nice to have one argument to turn all debugging on,
> but ultimately I feel there are bigger fish to fry than points of
> principle here.
Both you and Tom Gundersen raised the point of assisting end-users with
boot issues. 'dbg' (as suggested, shorthand for 'dbg=kri') is as
concise and simple as it gets.

> As far as I understand it none of the future plans really revolve around
> this, so I say just change it and move on with making things awesome and
> don't waste time on this point of principle.
I'm not going to push it, but if anyone (important) wants me to, I'm
still willing to bring it up on LKML and write patches.

Otherwise I'll move on. Good day.

Florian