[SOLVED] Location of Bootup Scripts

notadoc · 04-17-2017, 03:06 PM

During bootup two scripts are run, according to the on-screen messages:
/scripts/init-bottom
/scripts/local-bottom

After booting, there is no /scripts directory to be found.

How can I access those scripts for study/editing? I haven't a clue.

michaelk · 04-17-2017, 04:41 PM

What is the output of the commands

locate init-bottom

locate local-bottom

Jjanel · 04-19-2017, 03:27 AM

Interesting study! Gets into the concept of initrd/initramfs (as that #2 locate will show)
(Here's something I found, tho obscure & NOT very related; &a LQthread: ^f run_scripts /scripts/init-bottom And a couple wiki's about how this fs 'goes away' via switch/pivot_root, tho initrd is optional, as in LFS! Also, mll is on my 'to-do' list

)

Let us know what you 'find'

(which distro?)

hydrurga · 04-19-2017, 04:01 AM

Further to the previous answers, /etc/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-bottom and local-bottom are directories in which scripts can be stored to be executed during the initramfs stage of system startup.

There is some information on these directories in man initramfs-tools

On my system, Linux Mint 18.1, both directories are empty.

notadoc · 04-19-2017, 01:26 PM

No surprise here, as noted by other posters:

Code:

xxx@Hound:~$ sudo locate local-bottom
/etc/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-bottom
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-bottom
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-bottom/cryptopensc
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-bottom/lupin_setup
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-bottom/ntfs_3g

xxx@Hound:~$ sudo locate init-bottom
/etc/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-bottom
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-bottom
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-bottom/plymouth
/usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/init-bottom/udev

All there are empty directories. There are no files of that name:

Code:

xxx@Hound:~$ sudo find / -type f -name init-bottom
xxx@Hound:~$ sudo find / -type f -name local-bottom

show nothing.

So, I'm still in the dark as to what's in those files. Which brings me to a larger point. Where is there a detailed description of the boot process for Mint (Desktop: Cinnamon 2.8.8 Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa)? My Slackware experience isn't helping.

michaelk · 04-19-2017, 01:47 PM

Sorry, I actually run debian which does have scripts in the those directories. I guess mint does not.

notadoc · 04-20-2017, 02:02 PM

Thanks for that 'man' reference hydrurga. I'm afraid it's above my pay grade however. And it sounds like there are actually scripts in those empty dirs. Guess I'll remain in the dark. (Sigh).

hydrurga · 04-20-2017, 02:31 PM

Imagine if the message had read:

Running any scripts found in the directory scripts/init-bottom...done processing any scripts that were found (if any)

That would have made more sense? I think here that it's a case of an original info message that isn't very precise.

Don't remain in the dark. Keep having a look around.

Mint is based via Ubuntu on Debian. Perhaps this therefore could be of use: https://wiki.debian.org/BootProcess

luvr · 04-20-2017, 03:03 PM

For starters, you may want to list the contents of your initramfs:

Code:

lsinitramfs -l INITRAMFSFILE

(where INITRAMFSFILE, obviously, identifies the initramfs file—which most likely sits in your /boot directory). See if it lists any (executable) files in the scripts directory tree.

notadoc · 04-21-2017, 10:07 AM

hydrurga: Your interpretation of those boot time script messages makes perfect sense to me. However, the hang time for those messages seems to suggest that something is happening. The reference to the Debian wiki on booting looks very interesting. Thanks for your interest and your help.

luvr: Alas, I don't seem to have a relevant initram* file anywhere in /. I do have a file initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic, but lsinitramfs can't read it. BTW, I never knew about the lsinitramfs command. Thanks.

luvr · 04-21-2017, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notadoc

luvr: Alas, I don't seem to have a relevant initram* file anywhere in /. I do have a file initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic, but lsinitramfs can't read it.

That’s strange... On my Ubuntu system, I have a /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-67-generic file, which lsinitramfs reads fine. Perhaps on your Mint system, it’s in a somehow different format? The file command on my system tells me it’s a gzip compressed file:

Code:

$ file /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-67-generic
/boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-67-generic: gzip compressed data, last modified: Wed Mar 15 19:17:28 2017, from Unix

I can copy it to a file with a .gz extension, and un-“gzip” it:

Code:

$ cp /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-67-generic blahblah.gz
$ gunzip blahblah.gz

The resulting file, blahblah, then, will be a cpio archive:

Code:

$ file blahblah
blahblah: ASCII cpio archive (SVR4 with no CRC)

I can use the “cpio” command to extract its contents:

Code:

$ cpio -i < blahblah
196673 blocks

The contents will get extracted to the current directory:

Code:

$ ls -l
total 98388
drwxr-xr-x  2 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 bin
-rw-r--r--  1 luvr luvr 100696576 Apr 21 18:23 blahblah
drwxr-xr-x  3 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 conf
drwxr-xr-x 10 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 etc
-rwxr-xr-x  1 luvr luvr      6907 Apr 21 18:27 init
drwxr-xr-x  9 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 lib
drwxr-xr-x  2 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 lib64
drwxr-xr-x  2 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 run
drwxr-xr-x  2 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:27 sbin
drwxr-xr-x  7 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:27 scripts
drwxr-xr-x  4 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 usr
drwxr-xr-x  4 luvr luvr      4096 Apr 21 18:26 var

This is the exact actual contents of the initial RAM disk as your system uses it.

Quote:

BTW, I never knew about the lsinitramfs command. Thanks.

You're welcome!

hydrurga · 04-21-2017, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notadoc

hydrurga: Your interpretation of those boot time script messages makes perfect sense to me. However, the hang time for those messages seems to suggest that something is happening. The reference to the Debian wiki on booting looks very interesting. Thanks for your interest and your help.

luvr: Alas, I don't seem to have a relevant initram* file anywhere in /. I do have a file initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic, but lsinitramfs can't read it. BTW, I never knew about the lsinitramfs command. Thanks.

luvr's posts have been very interesting indeed.

What error message does lsinitramfs give?

On Mint 18.1, I have /boot/initrd.img-4.8.0-46-generic and lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img-4.8.0-46-generic works fine.

notadoc · 04-21-2017, 02:52 PM

luvr: I collected my thoughts after I had posted.

Code:

file initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic

said it was a gzip file. Like you, I appended a ',gz' to the name and ungzip'ed it. Voila, lsinitramfs read it; no cpio required. The /scripts/*-bottom were dirs, containing a few sophisticated scripts that told me nothing and were of no interest.

hydrurga:

Code:

lsinitramfs initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic

just says "Specified file could not be read."

Thanks, folks, for staying with me on this.

luvr · 04-22-2017, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notadoc

hydrurga:

Code:

lsinitramfs initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic

just says "Specified file could not be read."

Probably a silly question, but were you in the right directory when you issued that command (i.e., most likely, "/boot")? Or, alternatively, did you enter the complete path to the file?

notadoc · 04-22-2017, 02:14 PM

Well might you ask

I try to careful about that, but I must have screwed up big time. A repeat of

Code:

lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-32-generic

gave an immediate display of the files. No gunzip, no cpio, no nuthin. Sorry for polluting this thread.