[Bug 593227] Re: feature request: add a root-path parameter

[Alkis Georgopoulos]

Stéphane Graber wrote:
> Opening a task for ltsp upstream to start using the new feature.

I'm hijacking the bug report a bit, but at the same time this feature is
integrated to LTSP upstream, i.e. when the LTSP code that generates
pxelinux.cfg/default is updated, it'd be nice to also include
boot=ltsp_nbd in the kernel command line, instead of putting
BOOT="ltsp_nbd" to ltsp-trunk/client/initramfs/conf.d/ltsp.

This will allow us to boot the same chroot with NFS or even locally,
without having to change it and run update-initramfs -u / ltsp-update-
kernels. So a sysadmin will be able to quickly test the changes he did
to his chroot with NFS, before putting it to production with NBD/ltsp-
update-image.

Having boot=xxx in the kernel command line isn't weird, casper uses it
for CDs too, and it's required for NFS booting, so why not put it there
for ltsp_nbd booting as well.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/593227

Title:
  feature request: add a root-path parameter

Status in Linux Terminal Server Project:
  Triaged
Status in “ltsp” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in “nbd” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  Currently nbd-server and nbd-client communicate using a different port
  for each image. So if e.g. an LTSP admin wants to use a chroot for
  nvidia-based clients and a chroot for the rest of his clients, he'd
  need to use two ports. And he wanted nbd swapping a third port would
  be needed.

  This is inconvenient and makes IANA applications to standarize the nbd port impossible.
  It'd be better if nbd-client supported two additional parameters, to be sent and processed by nbd-server at the negotiation stage:
   * A -path=/path/to/desired/root option (which of course the server could ignore, if it wasn't in a pool of allowed paths), and
   * A -swap=<requested size> option (to replace the current -swap option). If the server configuration allowed it, nbd-server (or some callback scripts) would create an appropriate swap flie of that size for the client.

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