Problem booting non-initrd kernel

phytoman · 12-02-2007, 06:38 PM

Hi group,

I am trying to build a custom linux kernel that does not use the initrd during boot. I still want the loadable modules option due to a couple of third-party modules I build (which are NOT needed for boot).

The problem *may* lie in my grub.conf but I can't seem to track it down.

The hardware is standard IDE hard drive (not SATA) and I have pretty much most of the modules I know I use built into the kernel. If I build the kernel with the initrd image and do a 'lsmod' there are no modules listed so I am confident that any required modules for booting are definitely built into the kernel.

There is only one partition (i.e. no /boot partition) and the partition is formatted ext3. The partition is /dev/hda1 and my grub.conf configuration is as follows:

#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=5
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu

title Linux (2.6.23.1-2)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.1-2 ro root=LABEL=/ quiet vga=794
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.1-2.img

So I am thinking the problem might be in the "root=LABEL=" option but no matter what values I put there I can't get a boot of the kernel. I have gotten various boot errors depending on what I put here (e.g. Kernel panic can't find device (0,0)).

Is there a particular kernel option I need to enable/disable to make this happen? I really want to get rid of the initrd dependency.

Thanks.

jailbait · 12-02-2007, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phytoman

Hi group,

I am trying to build a custom linux kernel that does not use the initrd during boot. I still want the loadable modules option due to a couple of third-party modules I build (which are NOT needed for boot).

The problem *may* lie in my grub.conf but I can't seem to track it down.

The hardware is standard IDE hard drive (not SATA) and I have pretty much most of the modules I know I use built into the kernel. If I build the kernel with the initrd image and do a 'lsmod' there are no modules listed so I am confident that any required modules for booting are definitely built into the kernel.

There is only one partition (i.e. no /boot partition) and the partition is formatted ext3. The partition is /dev/hda1 and my grub.conf configuration is as follows:

#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=5
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu

title Linux (2.6.23.1-2)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.1-2 ro root=LABEL=/ quiet vga=794
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.1-2.img

So I am thinking the problem might be in the "root=LABEL=" option but no matter what values I put there I can't get a boot of the kernel. I have gotten various boot errors depending on what I put here (e.g. Kernel panic can't find device (0,0)).

Is there a particular kernel option I need to enable/disable to make this happen? I really want to get rid of the initrd dependency.

Thanks.

Grub starts counting at 0, not 1. Change the default to:
default=0

-------------------
Steve Stites

phytoman · 12-02-2007, 07:48 PM

That was a casualty of cut-n-paste. There actually is another kernel in my config. The default is irrelevant because when you boot, you get the option of which kernel you want to boot (if other than the default).

So my original question remains.

syg00 · 12-02-2007, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phytoman

Is there a particular kernel option I need to enable/disable to make this happen? I really want to get rid of the initrd dependency.

You can't - read this thread.

phytoman · 12-03-2007, 08:31 AM

I can't? That does not compute. I have another system with a 2.4 kernel that I built that boots with no initrd.

Why would you say that the linux 2.6 kernel can't boot without it?

dwhitney67 · 12-04-2007, 12:12 AM

I'm not sure I quite understand the problem you are having? Is it a kernel config problem or a grub problem?

I have been able to boot into a 2.6.x kernel using the following for my grub entry:

Code:

title ClfsLinux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/clfskernel-2.6.17.13 quiet rw root=/dev/hda1

The "Block devices" portion of my kernel configuration looks like:

Code:

#
# Block devices
#
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_XD is not set
# CONFIG_PARIDE is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_DA is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_CPQ_CISS_DA is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_DAC960 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_COW_COMMON is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=m
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CRYPTOLOOP is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD=m
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8 is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UB is not set
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_COUNT=8
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_SIZE=20480
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y
CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m
CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD_BUFFERS=8
# CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD_WCACHE is not set
# CONFIG_ATA_OVER_ETH is not set

If I have missed the point of your query, please restate your question and perhaps I may be able to help.

phytoman · 12-04-2007, 10:01 AM

> "Is it a kernel config problem or a grub problem?"

Well, that's my original question. As I stated in my original question, I am trying to remove the dependency of the initrd image when I boot (i.e. remove the line "initrd /boot/initrd-<version>" from my grub.conf file) when I build a custom kernel.

The kernel I am trying to boot (custom built 2.6.21.7) contains all required modules (that I know of) built into the kernel. It looks like it's going through the boot sequence but the latest error I am getting during boot is:

Warning: Unable to open an initial console

Then it automatically reboots.

If I add the initrd line back into grub for this kernel, boot then do a lsmod, no modules are listed which tells me that all required modules are built it, right?

Am I missing something?

dwhitney67 · 12-04-2007, 11:15 AM

You might be just missing something, but I can't tell for sure. What disto are you running? Can you verify that you have a /dev/console? If not, it can be created using this command:

Code:

mknod -m 600 /dev/console c 5 1

It is indeed a myth that one requires an initrd to run. The system I run is CLFS (cross-compiled linux from scratch); I do not use an initrd, although I do run udev to setup my device nodes, with the exception of the one shown above and /dev/null.

/dev/null is setup using:

Code:

mknod -m 666 /dev/null c 1 3

Aside from the devices above, look at your /etc/inittab, your startup scripts, directory permissions (i.e. /tmp, /var), /bin/sh or /bin/bash, etc..

You should at least be able to boot to the black/white console that displays the login prompt.

P.S. In case this matters, here's the "File systems" section of my kernel config file:

Code:

#
# File systems
#
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_SECURITY=y
# CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XIP is not set
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_SECURITY=y
CONFIG_JBD=y
# CONFIG_JBD_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y
# CONFIG_REISERFS_CHECK is not set
# CONFIG_REISERFS_PROC_INFO is not set
# CONFIG_REISERFS_FS_XATTR is not set
# CONFIG_JFS_FS is not set
CONFIG_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
# CONFIG_XFS_FS is not set
# CONFIG_OCFS2_FS is not set
# CONFIG_MINIX_FS is not set
CONFIG_ROMFS_FS=m
CONFIG_INOTIFY=y
# CONFIG_QUOTA is not set
CONFIG_DNOTIFY=y
CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS=m
CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS=m
CONFIG_FUSE_FS=m