[Bug 1095154] [NEW] initramfs-tools: ZRAM is not used in Live CD's if the machine has less than 512 MB RAM

[Mélodie]

Public bug reported:

The Ubuntu version used in Precise Pangolin;
The initramfs-tools version used is  0.99ubuntu13:

I am trying to make a customized Live CD with the ZRAM kernel module
enabled in the Live. I found the files dedicated to configure it for the
Live CD, but when I tried the resulting ISO in Virtualbox ZRAM was not
activated. Then I discovered the file "$WORKDIR/initrd/scripts/init-
top/compcache", and I found this section in the script:

******************************

# Do not use compcache on the liveCD if we have more than 512M
if [ "${BOOT}" = "casper" ]; then
    if [ "${TOTAL_RAM}" -gt 524288 ]; then
        exit 0
    fi
fi

******************************

therefore I restarted Virtualbox with an amount of RAM less than 512M to
see if this time ZRAM would be enabled and YES it was!

I think it is a pity to limit the amount of available RAM for a given
machine where the Live will be used, because it can always be useful,
and also because the ZRAM swap device will be used only if needed.

I would like this limitation to be removed.

The present bug report could be tagged "wish-list" or "low".

Thanks for considering this request.

Regards,
Mélodie

** Affects: initramfs-tools (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: initramfs-tools zram

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1095154

Title:
  initramfs-tools:  ZRAM is not used in Live CD's if the machine has
  less than 512 MB RAM

Status in “initramfs-tools” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The Ubuntu version used in Precise Pangolin;
  The initramfs-tools version used is  0.99ubuntu13:

  I am trying to make a customized Live CD with the ZRAM kernel module
  enabled in the Live. I found the files dedicated to configure it for
  the Live CD, but when I tried the resulting ISO in Virtualbox ZRAM was
  not activated. Then I discovered the file "$WORKDIR/initrd/scripts
  /init-top/compcache", and I found this section in the script:

  ******************************

  # Do not use compcache on the liveCD if we have more than 512M
  if [ "${BOOT}" = "casper" ]; then
      if [ "${TOTAL_RAM}" -gt 524288 ]; then
          exit 0
      fi
  fi

  ******************************

  therefore I restarted Virtualbox with an amount of RAM less than 512M
  to see if this time ZRAM would be enabled and YES it was!

  I think it is a pity to limit the amount of available RAM for a given
  machine where the Live will be used, because it can always be useful,
  and also because the ZRAM swap device will be used only if needed.

  I would like this limitation to be removed.

  The present bug report could be tagged "wish-list" or "low".

  Thanks for considering this request.

  Regards,
  Mélodie

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