initrd.img and booting
I have a Sid installation with the 2.6.7-1 kernel, and have
just compiled 2.6.8 (after weeks of trying, I cannot
configure my USB network adaptor and hoped this might give
me some clue to the problem).
After creating the kernel-image.deb, I got the following
message and selected b. (not wishing to find I couldn't
boot at all):-
----------------------
Unpacking kernel-image-2.6.8.1910 (from
kernel-image-2.6.8.1910_10.00.Custom_i386.deb) ...
Setting up kernel-image-2.6.8.1910 (10.00.Custom) ...
/initrd.img does not exist. Installing from scratch, eh?
Or maybe you don't want a symbolic link here. Hmm? Lets See.
I note that you have an old initrd symbolic link in place. The name of
the symbolic link is being changed to initrd.img I have two options
here. I can: (A) delete the old symbolic link (default). You shall
need to update the boot loader (b) Igore it and do nothing
Please select one of a, or b:
Please note that initrd points to the wrong image now
Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub .
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.list file... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst .
Searching for splash image... none found, skipping...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1910
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7-1-386
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done
--------------------
/boot/grub/menu.lst includes the following (ignoring the recovery
mode entries):-
---------------------
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8.1910
root (hd0,8)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1910 root=/dev/hda9 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1910
savedefault
boot
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.7-1-386
root (hd0,8)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7-1-386 root=/dev/hda9 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.7-1-386
savedefault
boot
--------------------
2.6.7 still boots, but 2.6.8 does not - I expected this,
but I'm confused. For example, why are the entries for vmlinuz
required? If they were used wouldn't the booting of 2.6.7 fail?
/initrd is a link to boot/intrd.img-2.6.7-1
/initrd.img is a link to boot/initrd.img-2.6.8
/vmlinuz is a link to boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8
/vmlinuz.old is a link to boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7-1
What I would like to know (I don't want to experiment myself),
is how do I arrange things so that grub will boot whichever
kernel I select? Also, is there a URL or reference listing
what should be compiled directly into a kernel to avoid the
need to create an intrd.img?
Can anyone give me an explanation please?
John
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