Dirk Heinrichs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Am Mittwoch, 10. Dezember 2008 19:53:10 schrieb Harry Putnam: >> I happen to be stuck with a machine using an initramfs. Every of attempt >> of mine to build a new kernel not using an initram (Or even with initram) >> has failed with the boot routine failing to recognize my /dev/sdb3 as root. > > What is the error message you get?
/dev/sdb3 is not a valid device [...] Thanks > Why do you think you need an initramfs at all? It's usually only > needed in very rare cases where either a driver for storage hardware > is needed which is not part of the kernel itself or some user space > things need to be done to even setup the root device before the > system can be booted from it (i.e. when it's encrypted). I don't want it. I've never felt a need for initramfs before. However with this vmware appliance. I am just keeping the original setup because any of my attempts to compile a newer kernel and ditch the initramfs have failed in the way I mentioned. Apparently some basic driver or such had been missing in all my attempts. even running `make' using the same `.config' that works, has resulted in the same failure.... the boot routine sees the root /dev/sdb3 and an invalid device. If I boot from the original kernel and initrd... it works find. Same /dev/sdb3 rocks and rolls right along. I'm attempting piece by piece to track down what it is but I'll tell you .. it is a flat out pain in the butt.... has been extremely time consuming and aggravating.... I've compiled a different kernel at least 25 times now... I started out with the newewst and workied back a few versions.... then went to the exact same version 2.6.24-r8 and even there my compiled bzimage still failed. The original appears to have been compiled with genkernel so I tried that. Put the running config: zcat /proc/config.gz > linux-2.6.24-r/.config into the exact same sources as the origina kernel and ran genkernel on it. That has also failed to produce a bootable kernel. > However, to get a better understanding about initramfs and how it > works, you should read Documentation/early-userspace/README in the > kernel source tree. Thanks, that looks like a far more complete write up, than what I've seen so far. I haven't finished it yet... it will take some study. I'm starting to wonder now if the vmappliance creator has put something into the initrd that isn't the standard genkernel assembly. Some driver that makes the boot work. However during boot, the kernel I've built appears to fail after the initrd has already passed the torch on to the kernel. And in the case of the many attempted builds and booting with no initrd the message is worded a little different but says the same thing. Apparently the initrd has some different error language. I'll extract `exact' messages if you are willing to spend some time on this. But I suspect we should begin another thread with a subject that makes it clear this is about building a kernel for use inside a gentoo vmware appliance running on windows. Even if just for the sake of searchers who look here about getting gentoo running in vmware.
