Public bug reported: This may be related to LP#327106, which was recommending to remove --dereference (but the resolution in that bug doesn't show it being implemented at that time). Problem is present in Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04, all I have immediately handy at the moment to check; and appears to be the same in current 13.04 developmental source.
Consequence: initrd on my 11.10 and 12.04 systems have dangling symlinks: $ xzcat /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-32-generic | cpio -itv | grep '. -> /' lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 41 Mar 13 2012 etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-oss.conf -> /lib/linux-sound-base/noOSS.modprobe.conf lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Jul 11 2011 etc/ld.so.conf.d/x86_64-linux-gnu_GL.conf -> /etc/alternatives/x86_64-linux-gnu_gl_conf lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 Mar 13 2012 etc/ld.so.conf.d/i386-linux-gnu_GL.conf -> /etc/alternatives/i386-linux-gnu_gl_conf lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Oct 19 02:50 sbin/mount.ntfs-3g -> /bin/ntfs-3g lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 12 Oct 19 02:50 sbin/mount.ntfs -> /bin/ntfs-3g The `mount.ntfs` links are fine as /bin/ntfs-3g itself exists in the archive. The other three point to files which do not exist. I'm not sure if any of them have a *practical* impact. But other symlinks could exist, depending on system configuration, user meddling etc. LP#327106 included patch code which appears to completely fix this issue. It didn't just get rid of "--dereference", it replaced it with shell code to reach out and copy the contents of files which would otherwise have become dangling symlinks. Suggest revisiting that part of the patch (see https://launchpadlibrarian.net/22398738/mkinitramfs.diff) ** Affects: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1072009 Title: mkinitramfs does not use cpio -L (--dereference) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/initramfs-tools/+bug/1072009/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
