man-pages/man4/initrd.4

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.\" $Id: initrd.4,v 0.9 1997/11/07 05:05:32 kallal Exp kallal $
.TH INITRD 4 1997-11-06 "Linux 2.0" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
initrd \- boot loader initialized RAM disk
.SH DESCRIPTION
The special file 
.I /dev/initrd 
is a read-only block device.  
Device 
.I /dev/initrd
is a RAM disk that is initialized (e.g. loaded) by the boot loader before
the kernel is started.
The kernel then can use the block device
.IR /dev/initrd "'s " 
contents for a two phased system boot-up.
.PP
In the first boot-up phase, the kernel starts up 
and mounts an initial root file-system from the contents 
of 
.I /dev/initrd 
(e.g. RAM disk initialized by the boot loader). 
In the second phase, additional drivers or other modules 
are loaded from the initial root device's contents.  
After loading the additional modules, a new root file system 
(i.e. the normal root file system) is mounted from a 
different device.
.\"
.\"
.\"
.SH "BOOT-UP OPERATION"
When booting up with 
.BR initrd ", the system boots as follows:"
.RS 0.2i
.PP
1. The boot loader loads the kernel program and 
.IR /dev/initrd "'s contents into memory."
.PP
2. On kernel startup, 
the kernel uncompresses and copies the contents of the device 
.I /dev/initrd
onto device 
.I /dev/ram0 
and then frees the memory used by 
.IR /dev/initrd "."
.PP
3. The kernel then read-write mounts device
.I /dev/ram0 
as the initial root file system.
.PP
4. If the indicated normal root file system is also the initial root file-system
(e.g. 
.I /dev/ram0
) then the kernel skips to the last step for the usual boot sequence.
.PP
5. If the executable file 
.IR /linuxrc " is present in the initial root file-system, " /linuxrc
is executed with UID 0.  
(The file 
.I /linuxrc
must have executable permission.  
The file 
.I /linuxrc
can be any valid executable, including a shell script.)  
.PP
6. If  
.I /linuxrc
is not executed or when 
.I /linuxrc
terminates, the normal root file system is mounted.  
(If
.IR /linuxrc 
exits with any file-systems mounted on the initial root 
file-system, then the behavior of the kernel is 
.BR UNSPECIFIED "."
See the 
.BR NOTES 
section for the current kernel behavior.)
.PP
7. If the normal root file has directory 
.IR /initrd ", device"
.I /dev/ram0
is moved from 
.IR / " to " /initrd "."
Otherwise if directory  
.IR /initrd " does not exist device " /dev/ram0 " is unmounted." 
(When moved from 
.IR / " to " /initrd ", " /dev/ram0  
is not unmounted and therefore processes can remain running from 
.IR /dev/ram0 "."  
If directory 
.IR /initrd 
does not exist on the normal root file-system 
and any processes remain running from  
.IR /dev/ram0 " when " /linuxrc 
exits, the behavior of the kernel is 
.BR UNSPECIFIED "."  
See the 
.BR NOTES 
section for the current kernel behavior.)
.PP
8. The usual boot sequence (e.g. invocation of 
.IR /sbin/init )
is performed on the normal root file system.
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH OPTIONS
The following boot loader options when used with 
.BR initrd ", affect the kernel's boot-up operation:"
.TP
.BI initrd= "filename"
Specifies the file to load as the contents of 
.IR /dev/initrd "."
For
.B LOADLIN 
this is a command line option.
For 
.B LILO 
you have to use this command in the 
.B LILO 
configuration file 
.IR /etc/lilo.config .
The filename specified with this
option will typically be a gzipped file-system image.
.TP
.I noinitrd
This boot time option disables the two phase boot-up operation.
The kernel performs the usual boot sequence as if 
.I /dev/initrd 
was not initialized. 
With this option, any contents of
.I /dev/initrd 
loaded into memory by the boot loader contents are preserved.
This option permits the contents of 
.I /dev/initrd
to be any data and need not be limited to a file system image.  
However, device  
.I /dev/initrd 
is read-only and can be read only one time after system startup.
.TP
.BI root= "device-name"
Specifies the device to be used as the normal root file system. 
.RB "For " LOADLIN
this is a command line option.
.RB "For " LILO " this is a boot time option or
can be used as an option line in the  
.BR LILO " configuration file " /etc/lilo.config "."
The device specified by the this option must be a mountable 
device having a suitable root file-system.
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH "CHANGING THE NORMAL ROOT FILE SYSTEM"
By default, 
the kernel's settings
(e.g. set in the kernel file with 
.BR rdev (8)
or compiled into the kernel file),
or the boot loader option setting
is used for the normal root file systems.
For a NFS-mounted normal root file system, one has to use the 
.BR nfs_root_name " and " nfs_root_addrs 
boot options to give the NFS settings. 
For more information on NFS-mounted root see the kernel documentation file
.BR nfsroot.txt "."
For more information on setting the root file system also see the
.BR LILO " and " LOADLIN " documentation."
.PP
It is also possible for the 
.IR /linuxrc
executable to change the normal root device.
For 
.IR /linuxrc
to change the normal root device, 
.IR /proc " must be mounted."
After mounting 
.IR /proc ", " /linuxrc 
changes the normal root device by writing into the proc files
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev ", "
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-name ", and " 
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-addrs "."
For a physical root device, the root device is changed by having
.IR /linuxrc
write the new root file system device number into
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev "."
For a NFS root file system, the root device is changed by having
.IR /linuxrc
write the NFS setting into files
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-name " and "
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-addrs 
and then writing 0xff (e.g. the pseudo-NFS-device number) into file
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev "."
For example, the following shell command line would change
the normal root device to 
.IR /dev/hdb1 :
.nf

    echo 0x365 >/proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev

.fi
For a NFS example, the following shell command lines would change the 
normal root device to the NFS directory 
.IR /var/nfsroot 
on a local networked NFS server with IP number 193.8.232.7 for a system with 
IP number 193.8.232.7 and named 'idefix':
.nf

    echo /var/nfsroot >/proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-name
    echo 193.8.232.2:193.8.232.7::255.255.255.0:idefix \\
        >/proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-addrs
    echo 255 >/proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev
.fi

.BR Note :
The use of
.IR /proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev
to change the root file system is obsolete.
See the kernel source file
.I Documentation/initrd.txt
as well as
.BR pivot_root (2)
and
.BR pivot_root (8)
for information on the modern method of changing the root file system. 
.\" FIXME the manual page should describe the pivot_root mechanism.
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH USAGE
The main motivation for implementing 
.BR initrd 
was to allow for modular kernel configuration at system installation. 
.PP
A possible system installation scenario is as follows:
.RS 0.2i
.PP
1. The loader program boots from floppy or other media with a minimal kernel
(e.g. support for 
.IR /dev/ram ", " /dev/initrd ", and the ext2 file-system) and loads " 
.IR /dev/initrd " with a gzipped version of the initial file-system.
.PP
2. The executable 
.IR /linuxrc 
determines what is needed to (1) mount the normal root file-system
(i.e. device type, device drivers, file system) and (2) the
distribution media (e.g. CD-ROM, network, tape, ...). This can be
done by asking the user, by auto-probing, or by using a hybrid
approach.
.PP 
3. The executable 
.IR /linuxrc 
loads the necessary modules from the initial root file-system.
.PP
4. The executable 
.IR /linuxrc 
creates and populates the root file system.  (At this stage the normal
root file system does not have to be a
completed system yet.)
.PP
5. The executable 
.IR /linuxrc " sets " /proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev,
unmount 
.IR /proc ", "
the normal root file system and any other file
systems it has mounted, and then terminates.
.PP
6. The kernel then mounts the normal root file system.
.PP
7. Now that the file system is accessible and intact,
the boot loader can be installed.
.PP
8. The boot loader is configured to load into
.IR /dev/initrd
a file system with the set of modules that was used to bring up the system. 
(e.g. Device
.IR /dev/ram0 
can be modified, then unmounted, and finally, the image is written from
.IR /dev/ram0 
to a file.)
.PP
9. The system is now bootable and additional installation tasks can be
performed.
.RE
.PP
The key role of 
.IR /dev/initrd 
in the above is to re-use the configuration data during normal system operation 
without requiring initial kernel selection, a large generic kernel or,
recompiling the kernel.
.PP
A second scenario is for installations where Linux runs on systems with
different hardware configurations in a single administrative network. 
In such cases, it may be desirable to use only a small set of kernels
(ideally only one) and to keep the system-specific part of configuration
information as small as possible. 
In this case, create a common file 
with all needed modules. 
Then, only the 
.I /linuxrc
file or a file executed by
.I /linuxrc
would be different.
.PP
A third scenario is more convenient recovery disks. 
Because information like the location of the root file-system 
partition is not needed at boot time, the system loaded from 
.I /dev/initrd 
can use a dialog and/or auto-detection followed by a 
possible sanity check.
.PP
Last but not least, Linux distributions on CD-ROM may use 
.BR initrd
for easy installation from the CD-ROM.  
The distribution can use 
.BR LOADLIN 
to directly load 
.IR /dev/initrd
from CD-ROM without the need of any floppies.
The distribution could also use a 
.BR LILO 
boot floppy and then bootstrap a bigger ram disk via
.IR /dev/initrd " from the CD-ROM."
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH CONFIGURATION
The 
.I /dev/initrd 
is a read-only block device assigned 
major number 1 and minor number 250.  
Typically 
.I /dev/initrd
is owned by 
.I root.disk 
with mode 0400 (read access by root only).
If the Linux system does not have
.I /dev/initrd
already created, it can be created with the following commands:
.nf
\fB
        mknod \-m 400 /dev/initrd b 1 250
        chown root:disk /dev/initrd
\fP
.fi
Also, support for both "RAM disk" and "Initial RAM disk" 
(e.g. 
.BR CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y " and " CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y
) support must be compiled directly into the Linux kernel to use 
.IR /dev/initrd "."
When using 
.IR /dev/initrd ", "
the RAM disk driver cannot be loaded as a module.
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH FILES
.I /dev/initrd
.br
.I /dev/ram0
.br
.I /linuxrc
.br
.I /initrd
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR chown (1),
.BR mknod (1),
.BR ram (4),
.BR freeramdisk (8),
.BR rdev (8)

The documentation file
.I initrd.txt
in the kernel source package, the LILO documentation,
the LOADLIN documentation, the SYSLINUX documentation.
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH NOTES
1. With the current kernel, any file systems that remain mounted when
.IR /dev/ram0 " is moved from " / " to " /initrd 
continue to be accessible.  However, the
.IR /proc/mounts 
entries are not updated. 
.PP
2. With the current kernel, if directory 
.IR /initrd " does not exist, then " 
.I /dev/ram0 
will NOT be fully unmounted if 
.IR /dev/ram0 
is used by any process or has any file-system mounted on it.
If  
.IR /dev/ram0 " is NOT fully unmounted, " 
then  
.IR /dev/ram0
will remain in memory.
.PP
3. Users of 
.IR /dev/initrd 
should not depend on the behavior give in the above notes.  
The behavior may change in future versions of the Linux kernel.
.\"   
.\"   
.\"   
.SH AUTHOR
The kernel code for device 
.BR initrd 
was written by Werner Almesberger <almesber@lrc.epfl.ch> and 
Hans Lermen <lermen@elserv.ffm.fgan.de>.
The code for
.BR initrd 
was added to the baseline Linux kernel in development version 1.3.73.