[Bootcd-user] DEVFS=yes && mount: mount point /dev is a symbolic link to nowhere

[Mark Clarkson]

Hello and a Big Thanks to the developers for a great tool!

I was getting the error:
  mount: mount point /dev is a symbolic link to nowhere
when I enabled DEVFS and the 'delete the [ $DEVFS = yes ]... line'
post from Mr Happy didn't work for me but the following did. YMMV.

<--- SNIP --->
--- /usr/bin/bootcdwrite        2004-03-22 08:14:33.000000000 +0000
+++ /home/mclarkson/bootcdwrite 2004-05-22 15:31:43.000000000 +0100
@@ -674,9 +674,11 @@
 run mkdir -p $VAR/mnt $CHANGES/proc $CHANGES/ram1 $CHANGES/ram2

 # at Boottime /etc -> /ram1/etc -> /etc.ro
-for i in etc tmp dev home root; do run ln -sf /$i.ro $CHANGES/ram1/$i; done
+DEVEX="etc tmp dev home root"
+[ "$DEVFS" = "yes" ] && DEVEX="etc tmp home root"
+for i in $DEVEX; do run ln -sf /$i.ro $CHANGES/ram1/$i; done
 for i in var; do run ln -sf /$i.ro $CHANGES/ram2/$i; done
-for i in etc tmp dev home root; do  run ln -sf /ram1/$i $CHANGES/$i; done
+for i in $DEVEX; do  run ln -sf /ram1/$i $CHANGES/$i; done
 for i in var; do  run ln -sf /ram2/$i $CHANGES/$i; done

 if [ "$CLEAN_VAR" = "yes" -a ! "$ONLY_FLOPPY" ]; then
@@ -688,8 +690,10 @@
 run chmod 777 $CHANGES/tmp.ro
 run mkdir $CHANGES/etc.ro
 run chmod 755 $CHANGES/etc.ro
-run mkdir $CHANGES/dev.ro
-run chmod 755 $CHANGES/dev.ro
+[ "$DEVFS" = "yes" ] && {
+  run mkdir $CHANGES/dev.ro
+  run chmod 755 $CHANGES/dev.ro
+}

 run ln -sf /proc/mounts $CHANGES/etc.ro/mtab
 mkdir -p $CHANGES/etc.ro/rcS.d
<--- SNIP --->

TIPS:
  o Save the text between <--- SNIP ---> as patch0, cd to /usr/bin,
    then type 'patch -p0 bootcdwrite < patch0' to patch the file.
  o The non-free VMWARE is superb for quick testing.
    The cdimage.iso can be used as the cdrom device in VMWARE
    making testing much quicker.
  o In mkinitrd do DELAY=1, add /bin/ls to /etc/mkinitrd/exe,
    then press Enter after boot to try mounts, pivot_root etc.
    manually! (Fun!! - you can bring the system up like this
    and learn lots in the process)

Cheers
Mark.