I'm not sure if this is a bug, but its weird anyhow. I am trying to build an initrd with genkernel using the following: export INSTALL_MOD_PATH=/usr/src/linux-KERNELVERSION make modules_install (to install modules at different location) genkernel --no-install --kerneldir=/usr/src/linux-KERNELVERSION/ initrd however, the produced initramfs thingie does not boot. I have pocked around in the scripts a bit and stumblede across this line in gen_initramfs.sh: cat ${MERGE_LIST} > ${TMPDIR}/initramfs-${KV} which supposedly concatenates all previous cpio archives. As cpio is the worst documented command on earth, I can't be sure of this, but I think cpio doesn't work like that. If you look at the archive with --list then you'll only see the contents of the first archive, however the boot process might have some nifty way to extract all the archives, who knows. If I extract all archives into a directory and then create the initramfs thingie, then it boots... any ides? Has this ever worked for anyone?
It definitely works, seeing as how all of the release media are built with it. Basically, that isn't your problem. Your problem lies elsewhere. Also, the kernel has special CPIO handling for the initramfs. Because of how we are building our initramfs, you cannot use normal cpio commands to list the contents. Instead, you have to split the archive into each individual component, then uncompress the gzipped portions, then run cpio on each. Gotta love kernel internals, huh? Anyway, the problem isn't with how we create the initramfs. It seems instead like you have something missing which is causing the error.
> however, the produced initramfs thingie does not boot. Want to explain that in a bit more detail? What kernel are you using, for example? Does it not boot at all or does it hang, OOPS, or etc.?
I cannot reproduce this problem with the information given. Feel free to REOPEN this bug with the information requested by Tim. Thanks
