Re: [vox-tech] Conversion

[Ken Bloom <kabloom@MAPSucdavis.edu>]

The bf2.4 kernel doesn't require a kernel image. (it depends only on 
modutils and fileutils) The -686 kernel does seem to require a kernel 
image, and consequenlty it depends on the initrd tools as well. I 
assume most other kernels are like the -686 kernel. (But go ahead and 
try the bf2.4 kernel.)

On 2003.05.22 22:28, Matt Holland wrote:
> On Thursday, May 22, 2003, at 03:02 PM, Mike Simons wrote:
> > > I followed the instructions in section 3.7 of the
> > > Woody installation manual (Installing Debian GNU/Linux from a
> > > Unix/Linux System).
> >   I'll have to look over those instructions to comment.  Maybe next
> > week.
> Thanks.  As it turns out, I seem to have solved the problem, but 
> there's still the open issue of why the chroot doesn't behave the way 
> that it seems it should (more below).
>
> > > all of the appropriate images that I see in "apt-cache search
> > > kernel-image" seem to use initrd...
> >   Hrmmm... I don't see what you mean.  The kernel-images depending 
> > on a
> > package called initrd-tools, but those are only needed if you plan to
> > build an initrd image that works with the kernel-images provided.
> >   I maintain the standard Debian boot process does not use initrd
> > images.
> > ... if you could explain what you are seeing I'll be happy to
> > investigate.
> I installed the package kernel-image-2.4.18-k6.  The first sign that 
> something was wrong was that apt-get complained that it couldn't 
> completely install the package because mkinitrd failed.  I would find 
> it surprising if apt-get would upset about that if the kernel didn't 
> require an initrd image to boot.  I also read some threads in various 
> newsgroups, and they all supported the idea that these kernels 
> require an initrd image to boot.  I haven't found any evidence to the 
> contrary.
>
> > > I've thought of compiling my own
> > > kernel without initrd, but "make menuconfig" doesn't work in the
> > chroot
> > > (some complaint about missing ncurses, even though libncurses is
> > > installed and other curses interfaces [e.g., setting up apt] work
> > > fine), and I'm too impatient to survive an old-fashioned "make
> > config".
> >
> >   apt-get install libncurses5-dev
> >
> >   the libncurses is the runtime part, -dev is what you need to 
> > compile
> > stuff like the kernel.
> Thanks for the tip.  I compiled a kernel without initrd, and 
> successfully booted with it.  I was then able to make an initrd image 
> for the stock kernel, and now it boots properly.  So it seems like 
> something was definitely wrong in the chroot environment.  One thing 
> that's interesting is that now /etc/mtab contains an entry for hdb1, 
> but if I try to run mkinitrd in the chroot, it still fails.  I'm 
> still curious as to why this didn't work quite as documented, except 
> that maybe the 2.2 kernels don't require initrd (I don't even know if 
> that feature was in 2.2).  I'll have to follow this up by trying 
> again on another system.
>
> So now I seem to have a working Debian system, so I just need to 
> learn to do things the Debian way.
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