diff -urN linux-2.4.32-bootdev/fs/proc/proc_misc.c linux-2.4.32-opmode/fs/proc/proc_misc.c
--- linux-2.4.32-bootdev/fs/proc/proc_misc.c	2005-11-22 10:17:03.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.4.32-opmode/fs/proc/proc_misc.c	2005-11-22 10:17:30.000000000 +0100
@@ -467,6 +467,16 @@
 	return proc_calc_metrics(page, start, off, count, eof, len);
 }
 
+static int boot_opmode_read_proc(char *page, char **start, off_t off,
+				 int count, int *eof, void *data)
+{
+	extern int saved_opmode;
+	int len = 0;
+
+	proc_sprintf(page, &off, &len, "%d\n", saved_opmode);
+	return proc_calc_metrics(page, start, off, count, eof, len);
+}
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_SGI_DS1286
 static int ds1286_read_proc(char *page, char **start, off_t off,
 				 int count, int *eof, void *data)
@@ -639,6 +649,8 @@
 
 	create_proc_read_entry("bootdev", S_IRUGO, proc_boot, \
 				boot_bootdev_read_proc, NULL);
+	create_proc_read_entry("opmode", S_IRUGO, proc_boot, \
+				boot_opmode_read_proc, NULL);
 
 	proc_symlink("mounts", NULL, "self/mounts");
 
diff -urN linux-2.4.32-bootdev/init/main.c linux-2.4.32-opmode/init/main.c
--- linux-2.4.32-bootdev/init/main.c	2005-11-22 10:29:35.000000000 +0100
+++ linux-2.4.32-opmode/init/main.c	2005-11-22 10:29:54.000000000 +0100
@@ -238,6 +238,17 @@
 }
 __setup("bootdev=", parse_bootdev);
 
+/* let's define this as 0:production, 1:debug in prod, 2:debug in dev */
+int saved_opmode = 0;
+static int __init parse_opmode(char *str)
+{
+    int par;
+    if (get_option(&str,&par))
+	saved_opmode = par;
+    return 1;
+}
+__setup("opmode=", parse_opmode);
+
 /*
  * This is a simple kernel command line parsing function: it parses
  * the command line, and fills in the arguments/environment to init