Re: adding modules to an initrd image
On Thu, Aug 25, 2005 at 08:52:10PM -0500, Grant Thomas wrote:
> I have recently installed Etch onto my computer, an ST20G5 from
> shuttle. I am using a SATA HD, which is on a ULI SATA controller.
> I am able to install to the hard-drive after I load the module
> manually in the installer via modprobe. Everything installs fine, but
> I have a problem on boot:
>
> When the initrd image tries to pivot_root, kernel panic happens
> because it can't read the root fs correctly, and I think it is because
> the SATA module isnt loaded by the initrd.
You could check this by running (after having booted successfully,
perhaps from another disk or a CD etc.)
mount -t cramfs -o loop <your initrd image file> /mnt
and then checking whether the modules in question are really absent.
> Also the module sata_uli is
> not in the /etc/modules directory.
> I have tried just placing the module from the installer in
> /etc/modules so it would load on boot, but it since it can't find the
> fs to begin with, this is useless, as the initrd loads modules from
> the image.
Messing around with /etc/modules (or anything else on the file system
other than the kernel and the initrd image files) won't solve the
problem, as the kernel doesn't see the file system at the time the
problem arises.
> So, I have an un-bootable installation that needs an updated initrd
> image. How would I go about creating this image?
I've recently posted a similar question and got no answer, so I can't
give one either.
However, I solved my problem by compiling the stuff needed to boot my
system (vesa framebuffer and framebuffer based console in my case)
right into the kernel, rather than as a module. Perhaps, that's the
easier way out of the problem.
One advantage of the kernel building approach is that get a Debian
kernel package that you can install with dpkg / aptitude etc., which
may be much more convenient than manually assembling a custom initrd
image file.
Best regards, Jan
P.S.: For the sake of knowing it, I'd still like to know how / whether
it is possible to control the initrd assembly process of make-kpkg in
order to get certain modules included -- I'm still puzzled by the fact
that the modules were included in the initrd image in
linux-image-2.6.12-1-686.deb but not in the initrd image in the
package which I made from the Debian 2.6.12 kernel sources using
make-kpkg...
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+- Jan T. Kim -------------------------------------------------------+
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