On 2022-09-28 2:16 PM, Marco d'Itri wrote:
it appears to be possible
for the next boot to find the root filesystem in a state where /lib or
/bin doesn’t exist at all. Recovery from this state will require
booting from installation media.
This is technically correct.
But after 8 years of development in Debian, and after Ubuntu converting
all their user base on upgrades, no such event has been reported.
I don't think you can draw conclusions from Ubuntu in this context since
their upgrade process is radically different. If I remember correctly,
they invoke convert-usrmerge at a point when the system is effectively
in single-user mode, and thus other processes are much less likely to
interfere.
I also don't think you can draw conclusions from 8 years of past
development within Debian because the vast majority of Debian
installations that were originally installed unmerged (pre-bullseye or
opt out) *have not yet been converted*. Most people who maintain Debian
installations, after all, aren't paying any attention to this process.
They'll get the conversion *only* when they upgrade to bookworm.
As such I think we haven't yet seen *most* of the truly weird conditions
under which convert-usrmerge will be invoked, and I think you should
reconsider.
zw
