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diff --git a/source/a/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.8 b/source/a/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.8 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..5fa95721 --- /dev/null +++ b/source/a/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.8 @@ -0,0 +1,194 @@ +.\" -*- nroff -*- +.ds g \" empty +.ds G \" empty +.\" Like TP, but if specified indent is more than half +.\" the current line-length - indent, use the default indent. +.de Tp +.ie \\n(.$=0:((0\\$1)*2u>(\\n(.lu-\\n(.iu)) .TP +.el .TP "\\$1" +.. +.TH MKINITRD 8 "04 March 2008" "Slackware Version 12.1" +.SH NAME +mkinitrd \- create or rebuilt an initrd (initial ramdisk) using initramfs (simple cpio+gzip). +.SH SYNOPSIS +.B mkinitrd +[ +.B \-F +] +[ +.B \-c +] +[ +.B \-f filesystem +] +[ +.B \-h hibernate_partition +] +[ +.B \-k kernel_version +] +[ +.B \-m module1:module2:module3... +] +[ +.B \-o output_file +] +[ +.B \-r root_device +] +[ +.B \-s source_tree +] +[ +.B \-C crypt_device +] +[ +.B \-L +] +[ +.B \-R +] +[ +.B \-V +] +.SH DESCRIPTION +.B mkinitrd +is used to build an initial ramdisk. An initial ramdisk is a very small +set of files that are loaded into RAM and "mounted" (as initramfs doesn't +actually use a filesystem) as the kernel boots (before the main root +filesystem is mounted). The usual reason to use an initrd is because +you need to load kernel modules before mounting the root partition. +Usually these modules are required to support the filesystem used by the +root partition (ext3, reiserfs, xfs), or perhaps the controller that the +hard drive is attached to (SCSI, RAID, etc). Essentially, there are so many +different options available in modern Linux kernels that it isn't practical +to try to ship many different kernels to try to cover everyone's needs. +It's a lot more flexible to ship a generic kernel and a set of kernel +modules for it. +.SH OPTIONS +.TP +.B \-F +Use the contents of /etc/mkinitrd.conf as options to mkinitrd (optional). +If this is used in conjunction with any other options passed on the command +line, the command-line options will override the config file options. +.br +See mkinitrd.conf(5) for details. +.TP +.B \-c +Clear the existing initrd tree (by default in /boot/initrd-tree/) first. +If this is not done, running mkinitrd will add additional modules to the +existing initrd. +.TP +.B \-f filesystem +Specify the filesystem to use for the root partition. If this isn't given, +mount will usually figure it out. This option must be used together with the +\-r option in order to be beneficial. +.TP +.B \--help +Display a help summary. +.TP +.B \-h hibernate_partition +Specify the swap partition holding the hibernation image. +.TP +.B \-k kernel version +Use kernel modules from the specified kernel version. mkinitrd will look +for them in /lib/modules/(kernel version). +.TP +.B \-l keymap +Load an alternative keyboard mapping. All supported keyboard mappings +can be found in /usr/share/mkinitrd/keymaps.tar.gz +Leave the '.bmap' out when you supply this parameter. E.g. '-l nl' will +add support for dutch keyboard mapping to the initrd. +.TP +.B \-m module list +This is a list of colon-delimited modules to build into the initrd. +Any dependencies of requested modules will also be added to the initrd. +Additional options may be added to use when loading the kernel modules +(but in this case the entire list must be wrapped with double quotes). +.TP +.B \-o output image +The file to write the initrd to. (default: /boot/initrd.gz) +.TP +.B \-r root partition +Specify the device to be used as the root partition. If this isn't given, the +kernel default will be used (which is usually fine). This option must be used +together with the \-f option in order to be beneficial. +.TP +.B \-s source tree +The directory to use as the source for the initrd. (default: /boot/initrd-tree/) +.TP +.B \-w +The -w option specifies how long to wait in seconds before assuming that all the +drives are spun up and ready to go. +.TP +.B \-C +Use cryptsetup to enable the underlying device of an encrypted root partition. +Requires '-r' parameter. Two scenarios are possible. +.br +(1) root filesystem was created on the encrypted disk/LVM partition, example: + + -C /dev/sda2 -r cryptroot + +where /dev/sda2 is the encrypted partition and the actual root device name in /etc/fstab is: + + /dev/mapper/cryptroot + +(2) the encrypted partition contains a LVM volume which holds the root filesystem, example: + + -C /dev/sda2 -r /dev/vg/root + +where /dev/sda2 is the encrypted partition and the actual root device name in /etc/fstab is: + + /dev/vg/root +.TP +.B \-L +This option adds LVM support to the initrd, if the tools are +available on the system. +.TP +.B \-R +This option adds RAID support to the initrd, if a static mdadm binary is +available on the system. +.TP +.B \-V +Display version information and exit. +.SH EXAMPLES +A simple example: Build an initrd for a reiserfs root partition: + + mkinitrd -c -m reiserfs + +Another example: Build an initrd image using Linux 2.6.24.5 kernel +modules for a system with an ext3 root partition on /dev/hdb3: + + mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.24.5 -m ext3 -f ext3 -r /dev/hdb3 + +If run without options, mkinitrd will rebuild an initrd image using +the contents of the $SOURCE_TREE directory, or, if that directory +does not exist it will be created and populated, and then mkinitrd +will exit. These options are handy for building an initrd mostly +by hand. After creating /boot/initrd-tree/, you can add modules and +edit files by hand, and then rerun mkinitrd to create the initrd. + +Once the initrd is created, you'll need to tell your boot loader +to load it. If you boot with LILO, you will need to add an initrd +line to /etc/lilo.conf. Here's a section of lilo.conf that shows +how to set this up: + + # Linux bootable partition config begins + image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-2.6.24.5 + initrd = /boot/initrd.gz + root = /dev/hda6 + label = Linux26245 + read-only + # Linux bootable partition config ends + +Once you've created the initrd and editing /etc/lilo.conf, you will +need to run 'lilo' to write out the changed boot block. The next +time you reboot the initrd should be loaded along with the kernel. + +Have fun! + +.SH SEE ALSO +mkinitrd.conf (5) + +.SH AUTHOR +Patrick J. Volkerding <volkerdi@slackware.com> |