OpenRC : split-usr or merged-usr ?

[Adrien.D]

Hello,
I have all my Gentoo with OpenRC.
With 23.0 profile i switched on the split-usr of course.
The "standard" profile looks like, for OpenRC, merged-usr.

Can i keep the split-usr all the time or in next months/years OpenRC must migrate to merged-usr and split-usr won't be supported ?

[Banana]

I'm not sure how long a future profile will take, so until then you are safe.

I think on the long run a merged usr will be the default. It is an old movement which simplifies some stuff.

[Hu]

I have not seen any announcement indicating that split-usr will be removed from openrc. Therefore, as with all projects, it will be supported until the people who work on the project choose not to support it anymore. That will most likely be when supporting it becomes too much trouble relative to the value that they gain from that support. We have already seen early cases of things breaking due to merged-usr assumptions, so I would not be surprised if additional upstream projects over time begin assuming "All the world is merged-usr" (even if almost none of it is VAX) and break on a split-usr setup. If too many of those break, the developers supporting split-usr might give up and abandon it. Absent specific statements from the relevant developers, I choose not to worry yet. There will always be the chance to migrate later, if that becomes necessary. The migration procedure for merged-usr looks fairly easy, so I don't expect to find myself stuck with no path forward, even if merged-usr becomes mandatory.

[NeddySeagoon]

I think open-rc split-user days are numbered.
The 23.0/split-user profiles exist but there are no split-user stage 3 tarballs to download.

We need the inverse of

Code: Select all

* sys-apps/merge-usr
     Available versions:  6 {PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python3_10 python3_11 python3_12"}
     Homepage:            https://github.com/floppym/merge-usr
     Description:         Script to migrate from split-usr to merged-usr

I found a Nov-23 17.1 stage3 for a new install a week or so ago, as I don't want a mix and couldn't face writing sys-apps/split-usr :)

[grknight]

I think open-rc split-user days are numbered.
The 23.0/split-user profiles exist but there are no split-user stage 3 tarballs to download.

There still is an amd64 split-usr stage3 under the advanced section. However, this is the only one currently being produced.
Others could be produced if there was demand. I'm sure anyone could create them using catalyst with minor modifications to the Gentoo recipes for alternate arches.

Edit: seems arm64 also has split-usr

[pietinger]

[...] Can i keep the split-usr all the time or in next months/years OpenRC must migrate to merged-usr and split-usr won't be supported ?

All people who have /usr on an extra partition cannot switch to merged-usr unless other requirements are met (-> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Early_Userspace_Mounting ). However, if /usr is a normal directory in your root partition, there is no reason not to migrate to merged-usr. I also have an OpenRC system and migrated to merged-usr the day after I switched to 23.0 profiles: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Merge-usr =>

Code: Select all

# emerge -uNDv @world
# emerge -1v merge-usr
# merge-usr --dryrun
# merge-usr
# eselect profile set X
# emerge -uNDv @world

(-> 17 packages updated)

[Adrien.D]

OK, so the best thing to do is migrate to merged-usr with OpenRC (profile without "split-usr") when i have the time. (i don't have /usr on specific part)

No stress when the split-usr will be unsupported (when it will be..)

But indeed, i didn't see official news about that, but see "split-usr" explicit in the profile name trough me, maybe, will be unsupported soon

[acarstoiu]

In

Code: Select all

/var/db/repos/gentoo/profiles/releases/23.0/profile.bashrc

the detection whether the profile is with a split or merged usr is based on the simple test of a

Code: Select all

split-usr

substring within the directory path of the profile.
This is simply imposing a supplementary assertion on custom profiles which reside at admin-chosen paths. That should be mentioned in the documentation.

[NeddySeagoon]

acarstoiu,

Add your suggestion to the Wiki Talk page.
The wiki will email contributors who are watching the page.
The suggestion my get lost here.

[acarstoiu]

Tried that, of course, but my Gentoo forums account is not valid for the wiki

[Zucca]

However, if /usr is a normal directory in your root partition, there is no reason not to migrate to merged-usr.

I still seem to have split-usr profile selected:

Code: Select all

Current /etc/portage/make.profile symlink:
  default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr/no-multilib

I have some pretty exotic setups (for example a separate /etc on a lvm lv for easy snapshotting), so I have custom initramfs where I can easily add more "pre switch_root" mounts.

So by migrating to merged-usr (using the script) I guess /bin and /sbin would become symlinks?

[pietinger]

So by migrating to merged-usr (using the script) I guess /bin and /sbin would become symlinks?

Yes, this is true; /bin is then a symlink to /usr/bin and /sbin is a symlink to /usr/sbin.

[miket]

In

Code: Select all

/var/db/repos/gentoo/profiles/releases/23.0/profile.bashrc

the detection whether the profile is with a split or merged usr is based on the simple test of a

Code: Select all

split-usr

substring within the directory path of the profile.
This is simply imposing a supplementary assertion on custom profiles which reside at admin-chosen paths. That should be mentioned in the documentation.

There are two problems here:

• The script /var/db/repos/gentoo/profiles/releases/23.0/profile.bashrc is supposed to warn the user if there is a mismatch between the status of /bin in the filesystem and the current profile. As you note, the test is terribly fragile. It would be much more effective if it probed the inheritance tree of the profile and did not rely on simply the name of the profile. (As a user of custom profiles, this issue really sticks out for me.) I think it would be much more important to address this bug rather than alter the wiki page. A true probe of the profile would have the added benefit of detecting the wonky situation of inheritance from both split-usr and merged-user ancestors. Of note: the test seems to run at pretty much every invocation any of the Portage utilities, not just the conversion program.
• Why are /sbin and /usr/sbin merging to /bin? Even that German who wants to rule the world indicates that /sbin would merge to /usr/sbin, not to /bin. See the original TheCaseForUsrMerge and the revised version The Case of the /usr Merge. Both of these have /sbin -> /usr/sbin. My guess is that the all-binaries-in-one-directory notion came from some distro maintainer, not L.P.

---

Edit to note that I'm seeing conflicting indications of how Gentoo's usr merging treats /sbin.

[pjp]

This thread is depressing. It's like Windows and Linux are having a competition, running around saying to each other "Hold my beer".

EDIT: s/Microsoft/Linux/

[pietinger]

Yes, this is true; /bin is then a symlink to /usr/bin and /sbin is a symlink to /usr/sbin.

Sorry, this is wrong; correct is: /sbin is a symlink to /usr/bin ... and NOT to /usr/sbin ... I am getting old when I see things in my root directory which are not there