Initramfs: Busybox VS Systemd, how to know??

medicineman25 · 2018-12-30 07:33:29

I'm installing my system as LVM, but I'm confused by the following from the LVM ArchWiki:

Configure mkinitcpio
In case your root filesystem is on LVM, you will need to enable the appropriate mkinitcpio hooks, otherwise your system might not boot. Enable:
udev and lvm2 for the default busybox based initramfs
systemd and sd-lvm2 for systemd based initramfs

I thought that Arch Linux was based on Systemd, so why the option? Or am I confusing Systemd as an init daemon with Systemd as an initial boot fs?

I'd be grateful for any help or guidance on this topic.

EDIT: Also, I've just read here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Minimal_initramfs that udev is REQUIRED for things like assembly of LVM partitions that contain the root filesystem. So again, why are these options on the LVM page?

MM25

Last edited by medicineman25 (2018-12-30 07:42:33)

jasonwryan · 2018-12-30 07:46:04

It's worth reading the Talk page for that section: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ta … stemd_hook

medicineman25 · 2018-12-30 11:35:13

jasonwryan wrote:

It's worth reading the Talk page for that section: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ta … stemd_hook

Ah yes, ok so there needs to be more info related to configuring initramfs with systemd, after generating a systemd based initramfs.

Also I think I got confused, my question was more "how do I know if my initramfs is systemd or busybox based". However, that's determined by whatever I configure in the HOOKS section of mkinitcpio.conf... It all makes sense now, I've created my presets and I get what's going on there.

Thanks for pointing that out though.

jasonwryan · 2018-12-30 17:47:24

Cool. Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-12-30 07:33:29

Initramfs: Busybox VS Systemd, how to know??

#2 2018-12-30 07:46:04

Re: Initramfs: Busybox VS Systemd, how to know??

#3 2018-12-30 11:35:13

Re: Initramfs: Busybox VS Systemd, how to know??

#4 2018-12-30 17:47:24

Re: Initramfs: Busybox VS Systemd, how to know??

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