systemd and recovery boot

Roken · 2012-07-30 20:13:36

I do keep hitting these little systemd issues, but google hasn't helped.

How do i boot a recovery console using a systemd only boot? I've tried both ro single and systemd.unit=rescue.target on the kernel command line, and whilst in both cases I can see the final message long enough to know that it's recovery mode, it then goes on before I have a chance to actually do anything to (I assume) continue trying to load my DM, resulting in a blank screen with nowhere to go and no way to get there. Obviously because it's now at run level 1 there are no TTYs available to switch to.

Is there a way to get something resembling the old behaviour with systemd where it will either drop to a console, or at the very least wait for me to make a choice?

yodaz · 2012-07-30 20:49:04

Hi,

I get to normal prompt by just adding systemd.unit=rescue.target on the kernel command line. It boots, then I get to a login prompt.

guelfi · 2012-07-30 20:54:44

Try

systemd.unit=emergency.target

Roken · 2012-07-30 23:14:30

Thank you for the suggestion, though it hasn't helped. Using emergency.target results in almost the same, except this time the monitor switches off instead of just giving me a blank screen.

Gnarl · 2012-07-31 20:12:11

I had a similar issue

Last edited by Gnarl (2012-07-31 20:13:02)

Roken · 2012-07-31 22:33:38

Ahhh, it certainly looks like the same problem -

locate sulogin

returns nothing.

If it's a single binary is there anywhere I can grab it without having to install Arch in a VM to copy it?

joshdmiller · 2012-07-31 23:40:49

You should be able to pull it off a live disk as it's part of core/sysvinit. But then again, from a live disk, you should probably just reinstall the package and/or fix your problem.

Last edited by joshdmiller (2012-07-31 23:41:20)

aline · 2012-08-01 18:25:44

I like to use the initramfs as a system rescue.

In the grub prompt I manually press "e"

In the linux line I leave like this:

linux /vmlinuz-linux root=/dev/sdz

Of course "/dev/sdz" doesn't exist, but because it does not exist the system will give me initramfs shell as it can't boot.

The initramfs shell is like a swiss-knife where you can manually mount your real filesystem and fix many fings (for example a wrong fstab entry).
I do this even with encrypted lvm partition.

jjacky · 2012-08-01 19:25:55

Have a look here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mk … tomization
You can add break to your kernel line to get a shell on your initram, you can even decide to get it before or after mounting...

Roken · 2012-08-01 23:36:06

Sorry it's taken me a couple of days to come back to this, but my day job and experimenting have got in the way.

I copied sulogin in to /sbin and it made no difference at all, so on to step two, using initramfs, which is getting closer, particularly using the break point.

However, nothing here yet provides a true recovery system, which is what I long for. At the moment we are restricted to either a recovery system than will allow us to change system config files, or a chroot environment from a live boot that will let us modify the system generally, but nothing compares to init for system recovery where you can get both with a recovery boot.

For now, and since I already have a clonezilla ISO conigured in grub for boot, I may make a modified Arch ISO that I can boot to with the full chroot set up at login, but it would be far better to be able to boot the existing system to a recovery tty without the extraneous stuff starting. Surely rescue.service or emergency.service should stop all other *.services running, thus giving us a true recovery option.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-30 20:13:36

systemd and recovery boot

#2 2012-07-30 20:49:04

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#3 2012-07-30 20:54:44

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#4 2012-07-30 23:14:30

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#5 2012-07-31 20:12:11

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#6 2012-07-31 22:33:38

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#7 2012-07-31 23:40:49

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#8 2012-08-01 18:25:44

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#9 2012-08-01 19:25:55

Re: systemd and recovery boot

#10 2012-08-01 23:36:06

Re: systemd and recovery boot

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