mkinitrd

Thus +Alan Hicks+ spoke:

>
> On 2009-09-18, emmel <emmel RemoveThis @invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>> No, it can't call lilo for you, because some of us use GRUB. Some
>>> probably even use other boot managers.
>>
>> Doesn't stop the kernel make script. And I haven't heard anyone
>> complaining about that.
>
> That's because no one uses that argument in the kernel's Makefile
> anymore. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I know that it's
> been sometime since I heard of anyone using make in the kernel's source
> directory to re-run lilo. For one, a lot of people don't use lilo
> anymore, but for another, most things require initrds these days.
>
> In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that some, perhaps
> even most distributions patch that option out of the Makefile to keep
> their user's from foot-bulleting themselves.

It's in the vanilla kernel sources, though, and it gets run every time I
do a 'make install'.

> Bottom line: A lot of people feel that Slackware's mkinitrd is a very
> useful tool in it's own right exactly at is it. They also feel that
> changing it to be some automagical tool for installing your boot loader
> too is highly error-prone. You of course, may feel differently, and
> that's your right; however, don't expect mkinitrd to become some
> generic boot-loader-maker tool that does everything for you. As it is,
> there are very many handy features that make it much easier to use,
> such as the aforementioned generator script, as well as
> mkinitrd.conf(5). The man pages are clear on how to use all this stuff,
> so you should have very little difficulty setting up the generic
> kernel, or a kernel of your own making (or the huge kernel with md,
> luks, or lvm).

Actually, I was mostly sulking a bit because I had to reboot the machine
*yet* again, because I forgot to run lilo after mkinitrd. Yet again.
Anyway, I've never had any trouble with the kernel's 'make
install' even *when* I used grub. There's some sort of automatism in
there that does-the-right-thing™ (probably just checking for the
presence of a lilo.conf, but still), and that's why I did quote it as an
example.

On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:54:23 +0000, +Alan Hicks+ <alan.DeleteThis@lizella.netWORK> wrote:

....
>On 2009-09-18, emmel <emmel.DeleteThis@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>> No, it can't call lilo for you, because some of us use GRUB. Some
>>> probably even use other boot managers.
>>
>> Doesn't stop the kernel make script. And I haven't heard anyone
>> complaining about that.
>
>That's because no one uses that argument in the kernel's Makefile
>anymore. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I know that it's
>been sometime since I heard of anyone using make in the kernel's source
>directory to re-run lilo. For one, a lot of people don't use lilo
>anymore, but for another, most things require initrds these days.

I disagree here. The kernel's 'make install' calls out to
~/bin/installkernel or /sbin/installkernel.

I choose not to use initrd, can't see the point for custom kernels here.
>
>In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that some, perhaps
>even most distributions patch that option out of the Makefile to keep
>their user's from foot-bulleting themselves.

Well, the installkernel script hook has been there for many years --
what does surprise me is so few bother to 'roll their own'.

For reference (I've used this script for many years), see the home
page for the kbuild-install* scripts that I use to automate compile &
install here:

grant@deltree:~$ cat /home/common/install/installkernel
#! /bin/bash
#
# installkernel -- last edit 2008-09-09
#
# installkernel
# ``````````````
# this script is called by linux-kernel's 'make install' option to copy
# the kernel files (bzImage, System.map, .config) to the /boot directory
# the script is used for both 2.4 and 2.6 series kernel installs
#
# Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Grant Coady <grant.DeleteThis@bugsplatter.id.au>
#
# based on linux/arch/i386/boot/install.sh
# GPL v2 per linux/COPYING by reference
#
# installation
# `````````````
# the linux 'make install' looks for this script in two places,
# in this order:
#
# ~/bin/installkernel
# /sbin/installkernel
#
# copy installkernel to one of the above locations but don't overwrite
# any distribution copy of /sbin/installkernel
#
# limitations
# ````````````
# does not build initrd files -- I've never used them
#
# optional
# `````````
# if you use a backup kernel naming option in /etc/lilo.conf
# this script will backup the old kernel files of the same version if
# it finds the line 'bzImage-$(uname -r).old' in /etc/lilo.conf, for
# example:
#
# /etc/lilo.conf
# ...
# image = /boot/bzImage-2.6.26.5a
# label = 2.6.26.5a
#
# image = /boot/bzImage-2.6.26.5a.old
# label = 2.6.26.5a.old
# ...
#
# when installing bzImage-2.6.26.5a the script will rename existing kernel
# files to the *.old extension, in this case: bzImage-2.6.26.5a.old,
# config-2.6.26.5a.old and System.map-2.6.26.5a.old
#
# home site
# ``````````
# http://bugsplatter.id.au/bash/kernel/
#
# installing kernel to alternate target
# ``````````````````````````````````````
# Usually the root user invokes the script as `make install` and expects the
# kernel files to appear in /boot and the kernel modules in /lib/modules.
#
# To install the kernel files to an alternate directory, specify
# INSTALL_PATH; for example, install kernel to staging area:
#
# INSTALL_PATH=/staging/area/boot make install
#
# see also
# `````````
# kbuild-install and kbuild-install-local scripts from the home page above,
# these scripts are what I use to build kernels for some years now
#
# Changelog
# ``````````
# 2008-09-09
# rewrite the above commentary

ME=installkernel
VERSION="2007-01-17"

echo -e "\n$ME:\nGrant's installkernel script, $VERSION"
DEBUG=
[ $DEBUG ] && echo "
* Arguments:
kernel version: $1
kernel image file: $2
kernel map file: $3
default install path: $4
"
BOOT_DIR="/boot" # default INSTALL_PATH, when $4 is empty

# check we have a valid kernel target directory
if [ -n "$4" ] && [ "$4" != "$BOOT_DIR" ]
then
if [ -d $4 ]
then
BOOT_DIR=$4
else
echo -e "\n\n$ME: fatal: missing kernel target directory:"
echo -e "\t$4"
exit 1
fi
fi

# where to find .config, based on kernel series
if [ -f '.config' ]
then
echo "* 2.6 kernel"
DOT_CONFIG=".config"
else
echo "* 2.4 kernel"
DOT_CONFIG="../../../.config"
fi

# create kernel file names with version --> $(uname -r)
CONFIG="$BOOT_DIR/config-$1"
KERNEL="$BOOT_DIR/bzImage-$1"
SYSMAP="$BOOT_DIR/System.map-$1"

echo "* Destination files:
config: $CONFIG
kernel: $KERNEL
System.map: $SYSMAP
"

# perhaps backup prior kernel files, if lilo.conf has matching .old stanza
if grep -q "bzImage-$1.old" /etc/lilo.conf
then
echo "* Moving old kernel files to $BOOT_DIR/*.old"
[ -f $CONFIG ] && mv $CONFIG "$CONFIG.old"
[ -f $KERNEL ] && mv $KERNEL "$KERNEL.old"
[ -f $SYSMAP ] && mv $SYSMAP "$SYSMAP.old"
fi

# write new kernel
echo -e "\n* Writing new kernel files to $BOOT_DIR"
cp $DOT_CONFIG $CONFIG
cat $2 > $KERNEL
cp $3 $SYSMAP

#end

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.id.au

Thus Grant spoke:

> On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:54:23 +0000, +Alan Hicks+ <alan RemoveThis @lizella.netWORK> wrote:
>
> ...
>>On 2009-09-18, emmel <emmel RemoveThis @invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>> No, it can't call lilo for you, because some of us use GRUB. Some
>>>> probably even use other boot managers.
>>>
>>> Doesn't stop the kernel make script. And I haven't heard anyone
>>> complaining about that.
>>
>>That's because no one uses that argument in the kernel's Makefile
>>anymore. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I know that it's
>>been sometime since I heard of anyone using make in the kernel's source
>>directory to re-run lilo. For one, a lot of people don't use lilo
>>anymore, but for another, most things require initrds these days.
>
> I disagree here. The kernel's 'make install' calls out to
> ~/bin/installkernel or /sbin/installkernel.

It does? Doesn't seem to even exist on my box.

> I choose not to use initrd, can't see the point for custom kernels here.

Well, I need initrd for encrypted root and custom kernels are something
of a habit for me. Although it was the only way to make my laptop's
hardware behave before it was as old as it is now.

On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:12:09 +0000 (UTC), emmel <emmel.TakeThisOut@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>Thus Grant spoke:
>
>> On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:54:23 +0000, +Alan Hicks+ <alan.TakeThisOut@lizella.netWORK> wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>>On 2009-09-18, emmel <emmel.TakeThisOut@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>>> No, it can't call lilo for you, because some of us use GRUB. Some
>>>>> probably even use other boot managers.
>>>>
>>>> Doesn't stop the kernel make script. And I haven't heard anyone
>>>> complaining about that.
>>>
>>>That's because no one uses that argument in the kernel's Makefile
>>>anymore. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I know that it's
>>>been sometime since I heard of anyone using make in the kernel's source
>>>directory to re-run lilo. For one, a lot of people don't use lilo
>>>anymore, but for another, most things require initrds these days.
>>
>> I disagree here. The kernel's 'make install' calls out to
>> ~/bin/installkernel or /sbin/installkernel.
>
>It does? Doesn't seem to even exist on my box.

That's right, slackware dosen't provide an installkernel script -- it's
only an optional kernel build feature. The biggies (Suse, etc) use it.
>
>> I choose not to use initrd, can't see the point for custom kernels here.
>
>Well, I need initrd for encrypted root and custom kernels are something
>of a habit for me. Although it was the only way to make my laptop's
>hardware behave before it was as old as it is now.

Oh I'm sure there's good use for initrd. I avoid it for simple systems.

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.id.au