[systemd-devel] Cannot recover / migrate a Linux system due to systemd?

[Justin Piszcz]

Hello,

Question - Is it no longer possible (on distributions with systemd) to use
a rescue USB/CD to boot into a Linux environment that uses systemd?

Background-  I've been using Linux for the past 20 years and I have always
been able to use Knoppix or System Recue CD to rescue/migrate/repair a
Linux system with:
boot: linux root=/dev/sda1

Thus, using the kernel+initrd built-in on the USB stick or CD and booting
into my system.  Recently, I had to migrate my root filesystem from one
array to another and found I could no longer do this due to systemd.

I tried:
boot: linux root=/dev/sda1 init=/bin/bash # this gets me into the system as
it normally would

However, I cannot boot into the system normally like I could before with:
boot: linux root=/dev/sda1

The error with the System Rescue CD is it cannot find /sbin/init (as this
is a symlink to systemd)

I then tried:
boot: linux root=/dev/sda1 init=/lib/systemd/systemd

Then I get the following error:

[!!!!!!] Failed to mount API filesystems, freezing.
Freezing execution.

Workaround:
What I ended up having to do after several hours was give up trying to
rescue the machine with System Rescue CD, backup the root filesystem then
perform a fresh install of the distribution I am using (Debian) and then
boot to System Rescue CD, move the contents of my root filesystem back to
where they were before and leave boot, lib/modules in place and then reboot
and fix up any loose ends.

Is this the new method to re-install a skeleton OS and then move the
contents of root back or is there a better way-- is it possible to use
systemd and boot into a system like I did before?  Was I missing a
particular flag or option?

Thanks,

Justin.
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