Re: Initramfs and /sbin/hotplug fun

From: Mark Rustad
Date: Mon Jan 15 2007 - 22:50:36 EST


On Jan 15, 2007, at 1:54 PM, Andrew Walrond wrote:

Olaf Hering wrote:
Why do you need /sbin/hotplug anyway, just for firmware loading for a
non-modular kernel?

I guess this is unusual, but FWIW...

I have a custom distro and I was just looking for the easiest way to create a bootable rescue pen-drive. So I just took a working distro, added an init->sbin/init symlink, cpio'ed it into an initramfs, and booted it up. Works a treat, except for the early hotplug calls.

I have a kernel that needs to have early hotplug calls to load firmware. I just rolled my own simple hotplug scripts to only address that issue and have not had a problem since. The mdev in busybox that is in the gentoo initramfs didn't seem to be able to handle it, so I just made my own scripts. In my case I needed QLogic firmware so root could be on FC.

FWIW, it is a real PITA to not be able to build a monolithic kernel that can bring up root on its own. I will stipulate that I am an old- school guy that likes monolithic kernels, but I do feel that something has been lost. Yes, I am aware of the reasons for the change, else I would have written something when I was fighting the battle, but I still don't have to like it.

--
Mark Rustad, MRustad@xxxxxxx


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