[RFC] initoverlayfs - a scalable initial filesystem

[Andrei Borzenkov]

On 09.12.2023 17:42, Eric Curtin wrote:
> On Sat, 9 Dec 2023 at 12:46, Luca Boccassi <bluca at debian.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 8 Dec 2023 at 19:00, Eric Curtin <ecurtin at redhat.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> We have been working on a new initial filesystem called initoverlayfs.
>>> It is a new filesystem that provides a more scalable approach to
>>> initial filesystems as opposed to just using initrds. We are writing
>>> this RFC to the systemd and dracut mailing lists (feel free to forward
>>> to UAPI group also) because although this solution works without
>>> changing the code in these projects, it operates in the same area as
>>> systemd, udev, dracut, etc. and uses these tools.
>>
>> It seems to me everything you described already exists? If you want to
>> avoid having an initrd -> rootfs transition, you can already do that -
> 
> You need a initrd -> rootfs transition for generic linux operating
> systems right?

No, you do not. Nothing stops you from running off initramfs (today you 
do not really have init*RAM Disk* - the content of initrd is unpacked 
into initramfs.

> Or else you start building all sorts of things directly
> into the kernel which isn't really scalable.
>

See above.