Kernel modules in initrd

[Andreas Enge]

Hello,

recently I had an unpleasant experience in installing GuixSD: After booting
with the USB key and following the installation instructions, then rebooting
into the installed system, the "/" file system was not found: neither using
file system labels, nor device nodes.

The problem turned out to be that the disk of the machine needed special
kernel modules, and adding
  (initrd (lambda (file-systems . rest)
            (apply base-initrd file-systems
                   #:extra-modules '("mptbase" "mptsas" "mptscsih")
                                   rest)))
to the operating-system declaration solved the problem.
However, it took us quite some time and several trials to diagnose the
problem in the first place.

So I wonder:
1) Could we add more kernel modules to the base-initrd, whenever people
   report that new ones are needed? For instance, the berlin server has
   modules (list "megaraid_sas" "libsas" "scsi_transport_sas").
2) Better yet, since we managed to boot on the USB key and see the disk:
   Why not have the same modules in the initrd of the installation image
   and of the installed default system? Not being able to see the disk
   in the beginning would at least have made the process fail early on,
   and moreover there seem to be more modules on the USB key. And what
   fits onto a 1 GB USB key should also easily fit on a hard disk...

What do you think?

Andreas