I built a custom kernel and as part of it I included a cpio archive to be used as the initial InitRAMFS.. this all works great.. system boots normally and works..

trouble is I accidentilly deleted a file in the source tree I used to build the InitRAMFS cpio.. actually I created a new cpio and messed up..

yeah I know im not here to get flamed about backups etc.. i made a mistake..

what I want to know is if it is possible to take the Binary of my kernel, and extract the internal INITRAMFS out of it so that I can get the needed file back... or once the kernel is built are those file tucked away as part of the binary where they cannot be extracted?

-Christopher

I doubt you would have success getting it from the kernel image, but what about using a running version to copy the necessary files from? The initrd should still be there after the kernel boots.
--- rod.

hi, i don't know if the article on this webiste
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs
under 'Dismantling the Kernel' section will help.