Bug 46609 – Configuring the bootloader: Code Listing 6: grub.conf for genkernel users doesn't work while the Code Listing 5: grub.conf for non-genkernel users works although genkernel was used

• Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
• Product: [OLD] Docs-user

[Description Andy 2004-04-02 08:08:37 UTC]

I installed Gentoo couple of days ago and since I never compiled a kernel I used:
# genkernel --menuconfig all
to do that.
When configuring GRUB Code Listing 6 didn't work, upon boot it asked me on the shell to enter the root partion manually.
Using Code Listing 5 instead solved the problem.
Is this a documentation bug or did I something wrong?

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:

[Comment 1 Sven Vermeulen (RETIRED) 2004-04-02 08:49:46 UTC]

During the configuration (--menuconfig triggers this), did you deselect initrd support? The genkernel example is for the default setting (without --menuconfig) using initrds.

Also, did genkernel exit gracefully or did it error out (if you can remember)? Is there an initrd in your boot partition? Please provide the output of the following command (on a mounted /boot partition):

$ ls /boot/initrd* /boot/kernel*

What is your partition configuration and how did you configure your grub.conf exactly? Please provide output of:

$ mount
$ cat /boot/grub/grub.conf

[Comment 2 Andy 2004-04-02 09:56:34 UTC]

> During the configuration (--menuconfig triggers this), did you deselect initrd support? The 

I don't think that I deselected initrd support.

> genkernel example is for the default setting (without --menuconfig) using initrds.
> 
> Also, did genkernel exit gracefully or did it error out (if you can remember)? Is there an initrd in 
> your boot partition? Please provide the output of the following command (on a mounted /boot 
> partition):
 
I do not remember if genkernel exited gracefully.

> $ ls /boot/initrd* /boot/kernel*
/boot/initrd-2.6.3-gentoo-r1  /boot/kernel-2.6.3-gentoo-r1

> 
> What is your partition configuration and how did you configure your
> grub.conf exactly? Please provide output of:
> 
> $ mount
> $ cat /boot/grub/grub.conf

#
# Sample boot menu configuration file
#

# Boot automatically after 15 secs.
timeout 15

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

# Fallback to the second entry.
fallback 1

splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.3-r1
root (hd0,4)
kernel /kernel-2.6.3-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/hda6 vga=795 splash=verbose
# kernel (hd0,4)/kernel-2.6.3-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/ram0 init=linuxrc real_boot=/dev/hda6
# initrd (hd0,4)/initrd-2.6.3-gentoo-r1

title=Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


bash-2.05b# cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/rc-scripts/etc/fstab,v 1.14 2003/10/13 20:03:38 azarah Exp $
#
# noatime turns off atimes for increased performance (atimes normally aren't
# needed; notail increases performance of ReiserFS (at the expense of storage
# efficiency).  It's safe to drop the noatime options if you want and to
# switch between notail and tail freely.

# <fs>                  <mountpoint>    <type>  <opts>                  <dump/pass>

# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/hda5               /boot           ext2    noauto,noatime          1 1
/dev/hda6               /               ext3    noatime                 0 1
/dev/hda2               none            swap    sw                      0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0      /mnt/cdrw       auto    noauto,user             0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom1      /mnt/cdrom      auto    noauto,user,ro          0 0
#/dev/fd0               /mnt/floppy     auto    noauto                  0 0

/dev/hda3               /mnt/suse       ext3    noatime                 0 0
/dev/hdb1               /mnt/backup1    vfat    noatime                 0 0
/dev/hdb2               /mnt/backup2    vfat    noatime                 0 0
/dev/hda7               /mnt/freespace  ext3    noatime                 0 0
# NOTE: The next line is critical for boot!
none                    /proc           proc    defaults                0 0

# glibc 2.2 and above expects tmpfs to be mounted at /dev/shm for
# POSIX shared memory (shm_open, shm_unlink).
# (tmpfs is a dynamically expandable/shrinkable ramdisk, and will
#  use almost no memory if not populated with files)
# Adding the following line to /etc/fstab should take care of this:

none                    /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults                0 0

[Comment 3 Sven Vermeulen (RETIRED) 2004-04-02 10:16:47 UTC]

The issue is (or was) that real_root=/dev/hda6 should've been set, not real_boot (note: root/boot).

[Comment 4 Andy 2004-04-02 16:17:09 UTC]

Am I bad. Just overlooked my typo (now it works with code listing 6, too).
But anyway what is the reason for two different listings?

[Comment 5 Sven Vermeulen (RETIRED) 2004-04-05 00:03:43 UTC]

The kernel created with genkernel _can_ be used without initrd _if_ the hardware (and other stuff) you use to boot the system with is enabled in the kernel. This isn't always true which is why the use of the initrd is recommended. But yes, it is possible to have a working system without using the initrd.