[linux-lvm] Is lvmcreate_initrd expected to work?

[Lars Kellogg-Stedman]

Now that we've solved the pressing oh-my-goodness-my-system-won't-boot 
problem, I've got a few other questions.

The lvm package comes with the nifty lvmcreate_initrd command...but in 
my experience it simply doesn't work.  While it's especially clever 
about resolving library dependencies, it seems to ignore the issue of 
kernel modules.

For instance, I'm running a "reasonably" stock RedHat/SGI 7.2 
installation, which means that both SCSI support and the RAID5 module 
are built as drivers.  This means that my initrd needs, minimally:

  - scsi_mod
  - sd_mod
  - xor
  - raid5
  - lvm-mod

And unfortunately, lvmcreate_initrd doesn't pick up on any of this.

I ended up custom building an initrd around busybox, which provides a 
flexible pre-boot environment, including access to a shell prompt from 
within the initrd (which proved extremely useful recently).  But 
obviously, not everybody is going to have the time or experience to do this.

I realize that the root-on-LVM design is fairly bleeding-edge, as these 
things go, but it is in the FAQ.  I suppose the best solution would be 
for distribution vendors such as RedHat to include LVM support in their 
own dist-specific 'mkinitrd' type script.

While it would probably be easier to build a custom kernel with all the 
necessary drivers built in, I'll probably stick with this solution now 
since I'm fond of my initrd.  What are other folks doing?

-- Lars