On Mon, 2002-10-07 at 08:59, John Thomas wrote: > I'm compiling the kernel under RH 7.3 I get a freeze after the "freeing > kernel memory..." message, just before init is supposed to sign on. One > poster suggested this is because of an incorrect cpu setting, but I've > checked this. > > I've carefully followed the instructions in the kernel HOWTO. But... I > haven't used mkinitrd. Is it always necessary to do this? If so, what > should the output be called and where does it go? How does this affect > booting with a floppy?
You have two options that I know of: 1. If you are re-building from the Red Hat supplied config files, you will more than likely need to do the mkinitrd. What happens is that there are pieces of the kernel necessary for booting (device drivers) that are compiled as modules. You will notice, however, that your loadable modules are not in the /boot partition. I don't know the exact constraints on what can and can't be done during boot, but any other partition will be unavailable. The mkinitrd makes certain modules available during the boot process. When you use mkinitrd, you must give it the name of the image to produce, and the version of the kernel to use as its source. The name you specify as the image must match what you use in your lilo.conf or menu.lst, and the initrd file must be in your boot partition. Check your existing lilo or grub config files for examples of how to specify it. Read the man page for mkbootdisk and you will see that it takes care of the initrd for you as well. 2. Build a kernel that includes all of the necessary drivers not as modules but compiled-in to the kernel. If you build a custom kernel that does not include the many modules that support hardware you don't have and selectively includes drivers necessary for booting, you will get a faster kernel build, a smaller /lib/modules directory, and not have to deal with the initrd. Linus -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
