Arch Linux

unkn0wn_root

Member

Registered: 2019-11-13

Posts: 5

Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

Hello,

I've always been an Ubuntu users but recently I've moved to Arch so hello to everyone I want to fully understand how Arch (and not only Arch) works and now I'm stuck on initrc/initramfs. What I'm trying to understand is what drivers and included in initrc when I'm booting Arch? I know that this holds only necessary driver modules to be able to boot such as filesystem, storage drivers etc. and then it will be hang over to udev to load rest of drivers but I don't fully understand which drivers are included in e.g. Arch. Is it all drivers or just some of them? What about graphic drivers, Wi-Fi etc. Not sure how Arch defines "necessary drivers"...

Maybe stupid question but I'm currently trying to understand Linux in the whole and stuck on this question

Thanks!

Last edited by unkn0wn_root (2019-11-13 21:47:49)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mi … ed_modules

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

unkn0wn_root

Member

Registered: 2019-11-13

Posts: 5

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

Thanks but still don't understand how Arch determinate which drivers should be included in initrc after install. It has to be some kind of automation. I've installed Arch on my Dell laptop and I'm just wondering how Arch knows which drivers should be in initrc and what should be loaded after that. Like Wi-Fi etc. How does it works?

Thanks

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,412

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

See mkinitcpio examine your systems /etc/mkinitcpio.conf see what each hook pulls in.
See the autodetect hook for detecting what a specific system needs in the initrd.

unkn0wn_root

Member

Registered: 2019-11-13

Posts: 5

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

See mkinitcpio examine your systems /etc/mkinitcpio.conf see what each hook pulls in.
See the autodetect hook for detecting what a specific system needs in the initrd.

I'm not super-advanced Linux user so not fully understand where should I look. Nothing special in my mkinitcpio.conf and autodetect hook - now fully understand how could I determinate what drivers are included in my initrc. Autodetect means there is some kind of automation here so Arch determinate which drivers should be loaded before boot but how does it happen? How Arch knows which drivers should be and how can I see which are

Thanks again

loqs

Member

Registered: 2014-03-06

Posts: 17,412

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

You have already read through Mkinitcpio#HOOKS which lists the location for build hooks and looked at the build hooks your mkinitcpio.conf uses and could not find any references to modules?

unkn0wn_root

Member

Registered: 2019-11-13

Posts: 5

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

You have already read through Mkinitcpio#HOOKS which lists the location for build hooks and looked at the build hooks your mkinitcpio.conf uses and could not find any references to modules?

I'm dumb... Sorry. Found what I was looking for. Thanks for pointing that out! I was to fast and overlook HOOK in mkinitcpio.conf! THANKS!

unkn0wn_root

Member

Registered: 2019-11-13

Posts: 5

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

You have already read through Mkinitcpio#HOOKS which lists the location for build hooks and looked at the build hooks your mkinitcpio.conf uses and could not find any references to modules?

I have this:

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck)

Does it mean that Wi-Fi and graphics are not included in initrc file?

Xabre

Member

From: Serbia

Registered: 2009-03-19

Posts: 752

Re: Trying to understand initrc/initramfs and drivers - question

initramfs serves only to prepare the system for using the real root file system. Once it reaches that point, all other dirvers and services can be dynamicaly loaded/started. So your wifi or gpu are not crucial. Support for file system that contains your real / is.