For readers who aren’t too tech-savvy, I will immediately clarify that the initramfs is the temporary root filesystem the Linux kernel uses at boot. It contains the drivers and scripts needed to mount the actual system and get everything running. And just for reference, Ubuntu has relied on initramfs-tools for nearly two decades.
Surprising to many or not, Dracut was originally developed in the Fedora/Red Hat ecosystem. What makes it stand out is that, instead of relying on big sets of custom shell scripts, it builds the initramfs image using small, reusable modules.
This modular design makes it easier to maintain, more consistent across different Linux distros, and often faster to update.
A minor hiccup for those like me who like their installs being multi-desktop though…
Most of this cycle I’ve had the following issue, on packages that I’ve had installed since artful (at least; ie. 17.10 cycle)
Error: Unable to satisfy dependencies. Reached two conflicting decisions:
1. initramfs-tools:amd64 is selected for install because:
1. xubuntu-desktop:amd64=2.267 is selected for install
2. xubuntu-desktop:amd64 Depends initramfs-tools
2. initramfs-tools:amd64 is not selected for install because:
1. dracut:amd64 is selected for install
2. dracut:amd64 is available in version 108-3ubuntu3
3. initramfs-tools:amd64 Conflicts linux-initramfs-tool
[selected dracut:amd64=108-3ubuntu3]
Sure I’ve got my Xfce installed & working, but I do like using the flavor metapackages, and haven’t had xubuntu-desktop installed for most of this cycle
That seems like a rather serious issue, and for it to have persisted that long ....
Given that server installations may involve a multi-head configuration, it seems like a rather serious oversight for it to be dragging on since 17.10 !!!
No; I was trying to use the artful or 17.10 example as clue that my package set for this install isn’t new. The problem only occurred this questing cycle and relates to this thread; ie. not all flavors have switched to dracut this [questing] cycle, they will next [rr ] when I’m expecting to be able to return this box back to normal (package wise).
The only users who’ll notice it are the lovers of multi-desktop installs, who happen to want to mix those using dracut and and/more using initramfs… Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu-MATE, Lubuntu .. falling into the dracut camp, where Xubuntu isn’t (yet).
