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a/kernel-firmware-20240912_b9daf8c-noarch-1.txz: Upgraded. a/kernel-generic-6.10.10-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. The kernel modules are now bundled into this package. a/kernel-huge-6.10.9-x86_64-1.txz: Removed. So long, we won't miss you. If you were actually using kernel-huge with one of the SCSI/SAS drivers that were built in, you'll need to use kernel-generic and an initrd that contains the needed drivers. Otherwise, just switch to kernel-generic. It'll be fine. If unsure, make an initrd with geninitrd and have your bootloader use it. a/kernel-modules-6.10.9-x86_64-1.txz: Removed. Kernel modules are now bundled with the kernel-generic package. a/libblockdev-3.2.0-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. d/kernel-headers-6.10.10-x86-1.txz: Upgraded. k/kernel-source-6.10.10-noarch-1.txz: Upgraded. l/librsvg-2.58.4-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. l/protobuf-28.1-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. l/pygobject3-3.50.0-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. l/python-trove-classifiers-2024.9.12-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. n/nghttp3-1.5.0-x86_64-2.txz: Rebuilt. Make sure the cmake files are installed to the correct location. Thanks to fulalas. x/ibus-table-1.17.8-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded. isolinux/initrd.img: Rebuilt. kernels/*: Upgraded. usb-and-pxe-installers/usbboot.img: Rebuilt.
98 lines
3.5 KiB
Text
98 lines
3.5 KiB
Text
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Slackware initrd mini HOWTO
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by Patrick Volkerding, volkerdi@slackware.com
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Thu Sep 12 19:56:46 UTC 2024
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This document describes how to create and install an initrd, which may be
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required to use the 4.x kernel. Also see "man mkinitrd".
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1. What is an initrd?
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2. Why to I need an initrd?
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3. How do I build the initrd?
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4. Now that I've built an initrd, how do I use it?
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1. What is an initrd?
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Initrd stands for "initial ramdisk". An initial ramdisk is a very small
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Linux filesystem that is loaded into RAM and mounted as the kernel boots,
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and before the main root filesystem is mounted.
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2. Why do I need an initrd?
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The usual reason to use an initrd is because you need to load kernel
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modules before mounting the root partition. Usually these modules are
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required to support the filesystem used by the root partition (ext3, ext4,
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btrfs, xfs), or perhaps the controller that the hard drive is attached
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to (SCSI, RAID, etc). Essentially, there are so many different options
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available in modern Linux kernels that it isn't practical to try to ship
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many different kernels to try to cover everyone's needs. It's a lot more
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flexible to ship a generic kernel and a set of kernel modules for it.
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3. How do I build the initrd?
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The easiest way to make the initrd is to use the mkinitrd script included
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in Slackware's mkinitrd package. We'll walk through the process of
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upgrading to the generic 6.10.10 Linux kernel using the packages
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found in Slackware's slackware/a/ directory.
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First, make sure the kernel/modules, and mkinitrd package are installed
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(the current version numbers might be a little different, so this is just
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an example):
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installpkg kernel-generic-6.10.10-x86_64-1.txz
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installpkg mkinitrd-1.4.11-x86_64-35.txz
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Change into the /boot directory:
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cd /boot
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Now you'll want to run "mkinitrd". I'm using ext4 for my root filesystem,
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and since the disk controller requires no special support the ext4 module
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will be the only one I need to load:
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mkinitrd -c -k 6.10.10 -m ext4
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This should do two things. First, it will create a directory
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/boot/initrd-tree containing the initrd's filesystem. Then it will
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create an initrd (/boot/initrd.gz) from this tree. If you wanted to,
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you could make some additional changes in /boot/initrd-tree/ and
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then run mkinitrd again without options to rebuild the image. That's
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optional, though, and only advanced users will need to think about that.
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Here's another example: Build an initrd image using Linux 6.10.10
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kernel modules for a system with an ext4 root partition on /dev/sdb3:
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mkinitrd -c -k 6.10.10 -m ext4 -f ext4 -r /dev/sdb3
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4. Now that I've built an initrd, how do I use it?
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Now that you've got an initrd (/boot/initrd.gz), you'll want to load
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it along with the kernel at boot time. If you use LILO for your boot
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loader you'll need to edit /etc/lilo.conf and add a line to load the
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initrd. Here's an example section of lilo.conf showing how this is
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done:
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# Linux bootable partition config begins
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image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic
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initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
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root = /dev/sda6
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label = Slackware
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read-only
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# Linux bootable partition config ends
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The initrd is loaded by the "initrd = /boot/initrd.gz" line.
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Just add the line right below the line for the kernel image you use.
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Save the file, and then run LILO again ('lilo' at the command line).
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You'll need to run lilo every time you edit lilo.conf or rebuild the
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initrd.
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Other bootloaders such as syslinux also support the use of an initrd.
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See the documentation for those programs for details on using an
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initrd with them.
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---------
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Have fun!
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