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Even if F8 didn't exist, maybe it would be possible to just open the hd image in a hex editor and search for the "QUIET=true" string and patch it out?

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Or even find the /etc/shadow contents in the hexeditor and empty the root password field. Searching for "root:" usually gets you to the right place.

Most *nix systems are happy if you pad the left over bytes with newlines, so there's no need to mess with the filesystem metadata or anything like that. :D

The option probably refers to kernel compilation option, which might just as well remove the code printing messages altogether.

The link for the option goes to a page that talks about editing /etc/default/boot, that's why I thought maybe it could be found with a hex editor on the disk image :)

It used to be a common thing to recompile, at least partially, the kernel image for your specific deployment, instead of having what some called "table-driven OS".

Ultimately I say I prefer today's modular linux, though ZFS module allowing editing of parameters after boot pushes it a bit further :D

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