Arch Linux

solarwind

Member

From: Toronto

Registered: 2008-03-18

Posts: 546

Boot Without initrd

Hey all, I'm making my own tiny distribution just for fun.

I know that most distributions use syslinux/isolinux and use an initrd root filesystem to boot the kernel. But let's say that I want to make a "persistent" install on a USB stick, is it possible to boot WITHOUT an initrd? I'm using a kernel with no modules and currently no initrd. If I have the kernel at /boot/bzImage, can I boot the kernel directly on the root filesystem from the USB stick with GRUB? I don't want to use an initrd.

gils0040

Member

Registered: 2007-08-21

Posts: 5

Re: Boot Without initrd

As long as you have all of the needed modules (scsi/sata/pata/filesystems) built in to the kernel it should work. If you are building this to be bootable on different hardware, it will probably result in a large kernel.

solarwind

Member

From: Toronto

Registered: 2008-03-18

Posts: 546

Re: Boot Without initrd

As long as you have all of the needed modules (scsi/sata/pata/filesystems) built in to the kernel it should work. If you are building this to be bootable on different hardware, it will probably result in a large kernel.

I don't mind a large kernel. I just don't want an initrd.