There is a partial workaround for the case of a noexec /tmp or /var/tmp that I found in the mkinitramfs manpage and used to circumvent this problem: using/adding TMPDIR in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf and make it point to an "exec" dir. Unfortunately, this tip is not repeated where it belongs, either on initramfs.conf manpage or as a comment in the initramfs.conf file itself. My 2 cents. Lionel