Re: Problems booting 2.1.15

Philip Blundell (pjb27@cam.ac.uk)
Mon, 16 Dec 1996 20:41:27 +0000 (GMT)


On Mon, 16 Dec 1996, Richard B. Johnson wrote:

> I strongly recommend that, when using development kernels, you link
> init statically and put copies in all the directories checked, i.e.,
> /sbin/init /bin/init /usr/bin/init....

There's no need for that. You're pretty unlikely to break init upgrading
your kernel, and a statically linked copy is fairly unlikely to save you
if you do.

Far better is to always keep an older kernel around that you can boot in
an emergency.

> If you can get to the root mount point from another kernel, you can
> modify /etc/rc.d/rc.S to:
>
> /bin/bash
>
> ... on its first line.
>
> This will get you up to a very dumb mode with a shell. Just exit the
> shell to continue.

If you _do_ manage to break init and are unable to boot your system, it's
worth knowing that if you take init away altogether the kernel will just
run a shell for you.

phil