A trouble in the /proc/cmdline
Dear members of Debian-knoppix community,
I am a new subscriber in this ML, and very sorry that I have to start my
contribution with a report of a trouble. It is a trouble during the HDD
installation of KNOPPIX_V4.0.2CD-2005-09-23-EN with the knoppix-installer
script (v0.3.19.14). I also wrote this issue in the KNOPPIX FORUM
(http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21272&start=10). I apologize
for disturbance if this issue is already well-known to all of you.
My problem is as described below:
the /proc/cmdline will be disturbed if I boot from KNOPPIX_V4.0.2CD
without any option at the boot prompt (boot: ). It looks like as follows;
$ cat /proc/cmdline
### isk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off vga=791
initrd=minirt.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix BOOT_IMAGE=linux
I am not sure if this strange string will cause any serious problem to the
whole system or not, but one point is quite clear; this string will be
copied into the /boot/grub/menu.lst if I install KNOPPIX_V4.0.2 to my HDD
with the knoppix-installer under this condition. The result is a kernel
panic at the next boot from my HDD;
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on
unknown-block(3,13)
One member of a Knoppix user community in Japan
(http://www.freeml.com/archive/knoppix@freeml.com) uttered his presumption
that this trouble might be related with the change of the SYSLINUX package
(from "syslinux-knoppix 2.04-1" to "syslinux 2.11-0.1"). Furthermore, he
has reported the results of his experiments as follows:
Firstly, he has experimentally made a modified knoppix4.0.2 iso image
after he replaced /boot/grub/isolinux.bin on the CD with an old one from
"syslinux-knoppix 2.04-1". He assured himself that the error in the
/proc/cmdline did not occur when he booted from his modified 4.0.2 CD. I
could reconfirm this fact by my own experiment.
Secondly, he downloaded all available versions of syslinux from the
website of kernel.org and continued his experiment. He made bootable CD
images and tested them combining each version of isolinux.bin with the
current isolinux.cfg file. Only the CDs with isolinux.bin from
syslinux-3.08 or newer than it could boot correctly even without any
option at the boot prompt. All the other CDs with isolinux.bin of older
versions showed troubles at booting.
Thirdly, he edited the "DEFAULT" line of the current isolinux.cfg file. He
replaced the kernel image name "linux" with the label name "knoppix" and
deleted the APPEND line in the DEFAULT section as follows;
DEFAULT?knoppix
Then, he repeated the second experiment with this modified isolinux.cfg
file. He found out that even the CDs with isolinux.bin from older versions
of syslinux than v3.0.8 could boot correctly if combined with his modified
isolinux.cfg file. The /proc/cmdline was also correct.
So, a reconsideration on the current isolinux.cfg file would be the
simplest way to solve the trouble in the /proc/cmdline. We hope earnestly
an improvement regarding this issue in the next release of KNOPPIX_V4.x.x.
Best regards
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