Arch Linux

cl0wn

Member

Registered: 2005-12-29

Posts: 32

INITRD - WHY?

Hi all,
I don't  really know if it's the right forum for this topic, but I'd like ask some questions
Why arch uses INITRD? What are advantagesdisadvantages of initrd? Today I've compiled my custom kernel with abs and I saw that I don't need initrd to boot my system (i've tried to boot without initrd that after mkinitrd failing to create new initrd).
I'm not some kind of linux progeek or smth but I think that it could make (or even makes) more problems than solves (if any?)
Opinionslinksflames are welcome..

cl0wn

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knowledge is p0wer...

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: INITRD - WHY?

It's the right forum alright, but it's been covered very well when Arch migrated to initrd. Did you do a search? All the pros and cons are there. You can also look in the mailing list and bug-tracker.

nogoma

Member

From: Cranston, RI

Registered: 2006-03-01

Posts: 217

Re: INITRD - WHY?

For one, initrd (and initramfs) allows the system access to some modules and utilities that it can't get at until the systems is booted . A bit of the chicken-and-the-egg. For example, I have my system on LVM, which requires the lvm utilities to mount. But,of course, it can't get at the lvm binaries until the system is mounted. So, we stick a statically compiled version of the lvm binaries into an initrd/initramfs, which can be mounted temporarily in order to be able to then mount the actual system. Sounds complicated, I know, but basically initrd/ramfs is great, but not in anyway critical to getting a "standard" system running.

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-nogoma
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Code Happy, Code Ruby!
http://www.last.fm/user/nogoma/

ozar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2005-02-18

Posts: 1,686

Re: INITRD - WHY?

Yes, this subject was heavily discussed in previous threads.  Here are a couple of the more detailed threads about it:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=16224

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?t=16199

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oz

cl0wn

Member

Registered: 2005-12-29

Posts: 32

Re: INITRD - WHY?

so as I see it, it won't cause me any trouble if I won't use initrd:)
thanks guys

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knowledge is p0wer...

johnisevil

Member

From: Hamilton, ON Canada

Registered: 2003-08-07

Posts: 221

Website

Re: INITRD - WHY?

so as I see it, it won't cause me any trouble if I won't use initrd:)
thanks guys

If you use custom kernels it won't make any difference.  Personally, I think initrd is a waste.   I get that it can make for a smaller, modular kernel, but a lot of the things that it needs to load early in the boot process are things that should be built into the kernel and not as modules.  As someone that's been using Linux for almost 10 years, I've gotten in the habit of building anything vital into the kernel.  Things like chipset support, SATA disk support, RAID, etc. are no brainers.