initramfs.conf: please document FRAMEBUFFER option

[Andrey Bondarenko]

Binary package hint: initramfs-tools

According to changelog 0.98.8ubuntu1:
- Restore the framebuffer hook and script, copying KMS and other framebuffer drivers into the initramfs, but make them optional; you need to set FRAMEBUFFER=y for these to be included.

Availability of FRAMEBUFFER option was not documented and it seems to be disabled by default.

The result is broken console fonts in framebuffer consoles (example, bug 750636). Console-setup script is not copied to initramfs if FRAMEBUFFER is not set. Also console-setup in natty does not call setupcon from init scripts. So console-setup does not have a chance to configure font and all messages in non-english languages becomes unreadable.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[mTim (mtim)]

The code to determine if the option is set seems to be buggy (expecting the FRAMEBUFFER variable to be set)

The plymouth code uses this option but does not need the framebuffer if the arg --tty=ttyO0 is used for devices on a serial console. If frabebuffer and/or plymouth is disabled via this the init scripts do not utilize the serial console.

For some reason this bug is just now being triggered, it was not being triggered early in the install.

[mTim (mtim)]

12.04 armfp on Beagle bone installed via core. Not using stock kernel.

[Andrey Bondarenko (abone)]

Related issue is bug 433897.

I've added FRAMEBUFFER configuration heuristic to initramfs config hook in my branch:
https://code.launchpad.net/~abone/ubuntu/precise/console-setup/fix-433897

But I still cannot decice If i corectly understand meaning of FRAMEBUFFER option.