mkinitrd - creates initial ramdisk images for preloading
modules
SYNOPSIS
mkinitrd [-fv] [--with=module] [--preload=module]
[--omit-scsi-modules] [--omit-raid-modules]
[--image-version]
[--nocompress] [--version] [--fstab=fstab] image
kernel-version
DESCRIPTION
mkinitrd creates filesystem images which are suitable for
use as Linux initial ramdisk (initrd) images. Such images
are often used for preloading the block device modules
(such as IDE, SCSI or RAID) which are needed to access the
root filesystem. mkinitrd automatically loads filesystem
modules (such as ext3 and jbd), IDE modules, all
scsi_hostadapter entries in /etc/modules.conf, and raid
modules if the system's root partition is on raid, which
makes it simple to build and use kernels using modular
device drivers.
Any module options specified in /etc/modules.conf are
passed to the modules as they are loaded by the initial
ramdisk.
If the root device is on a loop device (such as
/dev/loop0), mkinitrd will attempt to build an initrd
which sets up the loopback file properly. To do this, the
fstab must contain a comment of the form:
# LOOP0: /dev/hda1 vfat /linux/rootfs
LOOP0 must be the name of the loop device which needs to
be configured, in all capital lettes. The parameters after
the colon are the device which contains the filesystem
with the loopback image on it, the filesystem which is on
the device, and the full path to the loopback image. If
the filesystem is modular, initrd will automatically add
the filesystem's modules to the initrd image.
OPTIONS
-f Allows mkinitrd to overwrite an existing image
file.
--fstab=fstab
Use fstab to automatically determine what type of
filesystem the root device is on. Normally,
/etc/fstab is used.
Only builds the image if there are modules that
need to be loaded at boot time.
--image-version The kernel version number is
appended to the initrd image path before the image
is created.
--nocompress Normally the created initrd image is
compressed with gzip. If this option is specified,
the compression is skipped.
--omit-scsi-modules
Do not load any scsi modules, including 'scsi_mod'
and 'sd_mod' modules, even if they are present.
--omit-raid-modules
Do not load any raid modules, even if /etc/fstab
and /etc/raidtab expect them.
--preload=module
Load the module module in the initial ramdisk
image. The module gets loaded before any SCSI mod
ules which are specified in /etc/modules.conf.
This option may be used as many times as necessary.
-v Prints out verbose information while creating the
image (normally the mkinitrd runs silently).
--version
Prints the version of mkinitrd that's being used
and then exits.
--with=module
Load the modules module in the initial ramdisk
image. The module gets loaded after any SCSI mod
ules which are specified in /etc/modules.conf. This
option may be used as many times as necessary.
FILES
/dev/loop* A block loopback device is used to
create the image, which makes this
script useless on systems without
block loopback support available.
/etc/modules.conf Specified SCSI modules to be loaded
and module options to be used.
fstab(5), insmod(1), kerneld(8), lilo(8)
AUTHOR
Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
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