Last night as was heading for bed I had a thought.  What if
grub expected the module to be in the /boot partition rather
than in initrd?  I just tried that: copied the reiserfs.o
file to /boot and in grub specified "module /reiserfs.o".
It worked.  I was able to boot.  So in the end I didn't use
a modified initrd file.
--
Allen Brown
  work: Agilent Technologies      non-work: http://www.peak.org/~abrown/
        [EMAIL PROTECTED]             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect
  solution applied ten minutes later. --- General George Patton


On Tue, 21 Dec 2004, Allen Brown wrote:

> I'm still missing something.  According to the man page for mkinitrd
> I can specify the required modules in /etc/mkinitrd/modules, and
>       All  modules specified in this file will be loaded when the sys-
>       tem boots using the generated  image.   However,  they  are  not
>       automatically  included  on  the image.  You will either have to
>       use the appropriate MODULES setting, or copy  them  in  using  a
>       script in /etc/mkinitrd/scripts.
> 
> The hint about "MODULES setting" was not clear.  I figured instead
> I should specify the module using the grub module command.  Problem
> is that it requires a full path to the file and 1) grub cannot
> see into the initrd.img file and 2) I don't know where mkinitrd put
> the file anyway.
> 
> So I figured maybe I could specify reiserfs.o on the grub kernel
> line
>   kernel /vmlinuz ro root=/dev/hda15 reiserfs.o
> but that doesn't work either.  It still cannot read the root file
> system.
> 
> In theory I could say "modprobe reiserfs" /etc/mkinitrd/scripts
> (I think) except that again, I don't know where the file is in
> the initrd.img file.  I assume I will again have to fully specify
> it.  So I don't know a path forward.  I need another hint.
> --
> Allen Brown
>   work: Agilent Technologies      non-work: http://www.peak.org/~abrown/
>         [EMAIL PROTECTED]             [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>   The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for
>   a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling to and make its home
>   for life.  For this task it has a rudimentary nervous system.
>   When it finds its spot and takes root, it doesn't need its
>   brain any more so it eats it.  It's rather like getting tenure.
> 
> 
> On Tue, 21 Dec 2004, Allen Brown wrote:
> 
> > Bob Miller wrote:
> > > 
> > > Allen Brown wrote:
> > > 
> > > > The boot partition is separate from the root partition.  There
> > > > is a kernel on the boot partition, but no modules.  I would need
> > > > to load reiserfs from the boot partition, right?  But where?
> > > > Do I need to place the module under some funky directory path
> > > > on the boot partition?  Or can I just place it in the same
> > > > place as the kernel and hope it looks there?
> > > 
> > > I'm curious why you chose reiserfs for the laptop.  All my
> > > filesystems are ext3, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything...
> > 
> > >From my readings in Linux Journal it sounded like reiserfs
> > is faster.  But mostly it was an arbitrary choice.  I don't
> > really know tradeoffs between the various journaling file systems.
> > 
> > > Anyway, what you need to do is use an initrd (initial ramdisk).
> > > Grub loads the initial ramdisk image into memory before booting
> > > the kernel, and the kernel finds it and mounts it.
> > 
> > Ah.  So the ramdisk image would have the directory structure
> > that the kernel is expecting.
> > 
> > > 1. Compile your kernel with ramdisk and initrd support.
> > >    Your distro may already have initrd.
> > 
> > Yes.  I can see that it does have such a file in the /boot/grub
> > directory.
> > 
> > >         Device Drivers
> > >          Block devices
> > >    [*]    Ram disk support
> > >    [*]     Initial RAM disk (initrd) support
> > > 
> > > 2. Build the ramdisk image.
> > > 
> > >         The procedure differs from distro to distro.  Search your
> > >         distro's documentation.  (or at least tell us what distro
> > >         you're using. (-: )
> > 
> > Debian Sarge.
> > 
> > OK.  Looks like I need to modify /etc/mkinitrd/modules
> > to list /lib/modules/2.4.27-1-386/kernel/fs/reiserfs/reiserfs.o,
> > altho perhaps not in that format...
> > 
> > And I can study
> > /usr/share/man/man4/initrd.4.gz
> > /usr/share/man/man5/mkinitrd.conf.5.gz
> > /usr/share/man/man8/mkinitrd.8.gz
> > /usr/share/man/man8/update-initrd.8.gz
> > 
> > > 3. Edit grub.conf.
> > > 
> > >         title=...
> > >         kernel ...
> > >         initrd=/boot/initrd-yourversion
> > > --
> > > Bob Miller                              K<bob>
> > 
> > Thank you.  That should get me started.
> > -- 
> > Allen Brown
> >   work: Agilent Technologies      non-work: http://www.peak.org/~abrown/
> >         [EMAIL PROTECTED]               [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >   To the hobo I'm imprisoned by everything I own. --- Leon Russell
> > _______________________________________________
> > EUGLUG mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
> > 
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