a) Even if smart status is not perfect it is a good idea to warn user during boot in case of errors detected.
b) What I tried to suggest is not a visible timer (good idea but not urgent), but the possibility that during _installation_ one can specify if automatic degraded booting will ever occur. (default timer=0 -> no automatism)
and if automatism is disabled or the user intervening during the timers run, she can make a well informed decison what arrays shall be run in degraded mode.
@Dustin:
a) Even if smart status is not perfect it is a good idea to warn user during boot in case of errors detected.
b) What I tried to suggest is not a visible timer (good idea but not urgent), but the possibility that during _installation_ one can specify if automatic degraded booting will ever occur. (default timer=0 -> no automatism)
and if automatism is disabled or the user intervening during the timers run, she can make a well informed decison what arrays shall be run in degraded mode.