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INITRAMFS-TOOLS(8)                 mkinitramfs script overview                 INITRAMFS-TOOLS(8)



NAME
       initramfs-tools - an introduction to writing scripts for mkinitramfs


DESCRIPTION
       initramfs-tools  has  one  main  script and two different sets of subscripts which will be
       used during different phases of execution. Each of  these  will  be  discussed  separately
       below  with the help of an imaginary tool which performs a frobnication of a lvm partition
       prior to mounting the root partition.


Kernel Command Line
       The root filesystem used by the kernel is specified by the boot loader as always. The tra‐
       ditional  root=/dev/sda1  style device specification is allowed. If a label is used, as in
       root=LABEL=rootPart the initrd will search all available devices for a filesystem with the
       appropriate  label,  and  mount  that device as the root filesystem.  root=UUID=uuidnumber
       will mount the partition with that UUID as the root filesystem.


   Standard
        init= "<path to real init>"
              the binary to hand over execution to on the root fs after the initramfs scripts are
              done.


        root= "<path to blockdevice>"
              the  device  node  to  mount  as the root file system.  The recommended usage is to
              specify the UUID as followed "root=UUID=xxx".


        rootfstype
              set the root file system type.


        rootdelay
              set delay in seconds. Determines how long mountroot waits for root to appear.   The
              default is 180 seconds.


        rootflags
              set the file system mount option string.


        nfsroot
              can  be  either "auto" to try to get the relevant information from DHCP or a string
              of the form NFSSERVER:NFSPATH or NFSSERVER:NFSPATH:NFSOPTS.  Use root=/dev/nfs  for
              NFS to kick to in. NFSOPTS can be looked up in nfs(5).


        ip    tells  how  to  configure  the  ip  address. Allows one to specify an different NFS
              server than the  DHCP  server.  See  Documentation/filesystems/nfsroot.txt  in  any
              recent Linux source for details. Optional parameter for NFS root.


        BOOTIF
              is  a  mac  address  in  pxelinux format with leading "01-" and "-" as separations.
              pxelinux passes mac address of network card used to PXE boot on with this bootarg.


        boot  either local or NFS (affects which initramfs scripts are run, see the  "Subdirecto‐
              ries" section under boot scripts).


        resume
              The  resume  hook  tries to autodetect the resume partition and uses the first swap
              partition  as  valid  guess.  It  is  possible  to  set  the  RESUME  variable   in
              /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume.  The boot variable noresume overrides it.


        resume_offset
              Specify  the  offset from the partition given by "resume=" at which the swap header
              of the swap file is located.


        quiet reduces the amount of text output to the console during boot.


        ro    mounts the rootfs read-only.


        rw    mounts the rootfs read-write.


        blacklist
              disables load of specific modules.  Use  blacklist=module1,module2,module3  bootpa‐
              rameter.


   Debug
        panic sets  an  timeout  on panic.  panic=<sec> is a documented security feature: it dis‐
              ables the debug shell.


        debug generates lots of  output.  It  writes  a  log  to  /run/initramfs/initramfs.debug.
              Instead  when invoked with an arbitrary argument output is written to console.  Use
              for example "debug=vc".


        break spawns a shell in the initramfs image at the chosen phase (top, modules,  premount,
              mount, mountroot, bottom, init) before actually executing the corresponding scripts
              (see the "Boot scripts" section) or action.  The default, if no phase is specified,
              is "premount".  Beware that if both "panic" and "break" are present, initramfs will
              not spawn any shells but reboot instead.


        netconsole
              loads netconsole linux modules with the chosen args.


        all_generic_ide
              loads generic IDE/ATA chipset support on boot.



HOOK SCRIPTS
       Valid boot and hook scripts names consist solely  of  alphabetics,  numerics,  dashes  and
       underscores. Other scripts are discarded.


   Hook scripts
       These  are  used  when an initramfs image is created and not included in the image itself.
       They can however cause files to be included in the image.  Hook scripts are executed under
       errexit.  Thus  a hook script can abort the mkinitramfs build on possible errors (exitcode
       != 0).


   Boot scripts
       These are included in the initramfs image and normally executed during kernel boot in  the
       early user-space before the root partition has been mounted.


       Hooks  can  be  found  in two places: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks and /etc/initramfs-
       tools/hooks. They are executed during generation of the initramfs-image and are  responsi‐
       ble for including all the necessary components in the image itself. No guarantees are made
       as to the order in which the different scripts are executed unless the prereqs  are  setup
       in  the  script.  Please notice that PREREQ is only honored inside a single directory.  So
       first the scripts in /usr/share/initramfs-tools are ordered according to their PREREQ val‐
       ues  and executed. Then all scripts in /etc/initramfs-tools are ordered according to their
       PREREQ values and executed. This mean that currently there is no  possibility  to  have  a
       local   script   (/etc/initramfs-tools)   get   executed   before  one  from  the  package
       (/usr/share/initramfs-tools).


   Header
       In order to support prereqs, each script should begin with the following lines:

              #!/bin/sh
              PREREQ=""
              prereqs()
              {
                   echo "$PREREQ"
              }

              case $1 in
              prereqs)
                   prereqs
                   exit 0
                   ;;
              esac

              . /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions
              # Begin real processing below this line

       For example, if you are writing a new hook script which relies on lvm, the  line  starting
       with  PREREQ  should be changed to PREREQ="lvm" which will ensure that the lvm hook script
       is run before your custom script.


   Help functions
       /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions contains a number of functions which  deal  with
       some common tasks in a hook script:

              manual_add_modules  adds  a  module  (and  any  modules which it depends on) to the
              initramfs image.

              Example: manual_add_modules isofs


              add_modules_from_file reads a file containing a list of modules (one per  line)  to
              be added to the initramfs image. The file can contain comments (lines starting with
              #) and arguments to the modules by writing the arguments on the same  line  as  the
              name of the module.

              Example: add_modules_from_file /tmp/modlist


              force_load  adds  a  module  (and its dependencies) to the initramfs image and also
              unconditionally loads the module during boot. Also supports  passing  arguments  to
              the module by listing them after the module name.

              Example: force_load cdrom debug=1


              copy_modules_dir copies an entire module directory from /lib/modules/KERNELVERSION/
              into the initramfs image.

              Example: copy_modules_dir kernel/drivers/ata


   Including binaries
       If you need to copy binaries to the initramfs module, a command like this should be used:

              copy_exec /sbin/mdadm /sbin

       mkinitramfs will automatically detect which libraries the executable depends on  and  copy
       them  to the initramfs. This means that most executables, unless compiled with klibc, will
       automatically include glibc in the image which will increase its size by  several  hundred
       kilobytes.


   Including a system firmware preimage (early initramfs)
       If  you need to prepend data to the initramfs image, you need to prepare it in a file, and
       call the prepend_earlyinitramfs function.  The file can be disposed  of  as  soon  as  the
       function returns.

       Example:
       TEMP_FILE=$(mktemp ...)
         ...
       prepend_earlyinitramfs ${TEMP_FILE}
       rm -f ${TEMP_FILE}



   Exported variables
       mkinitramfs sets several variables for the hook scripts environment.


        MODULESDIR
              corresponds to the linux modules dir.

        version
              is the $(uname -r) linux version against mkinitramfs is run.

        CONFDIR
              is the path of the used initramfs-tools configurations.

        DESTDIR
              is the root path of the newly build initramfs.

        DPKG_ARCH
              allows arch specific hook additions.

        verbose
              corresponds to the verbosity of the update-initramfs run.

        KEYMAP
              sets if a keymap needs to be added to initramfs.

        MODULES
              specifies  which  kind of modules should land on initramfs.  This setting shouldn't
              be overridden by hook script, but can guide them on how much they need  to  include
              on initramfs.



BOOT SCRIPTS
       Similarly  to  hook scripts, boot scripts can be found in two places /usr/share/initramfs-
       tools/scripts/ and /etc/initramfs-tools/scripts/. There are a number of subdirectories  to
       these two directories which control the boot stage at which the scripts are executed.


   Header
       Like  for  hook  scripts,  there  are no guarantees as to the order in which the different
       scripts in one subdirectory (see "Subdirectories" below) are executed. In order to  define
       a certain order, a similar header as for hook scripts should be used:

              #!/bin/sh
              PREREQ=""
              prereqs()
              {
                   echo "$PREREQ"
              }

              case $1 in
              prereqs)
                   prereqs
                   exit 0
                   ;;
              esac

       Where PREREQ is modified to list other scripts in the same subdirectory if necessary.


   Help functions
       A  number  of  functions  (mostly  dealing  with  output)  are provided to boot scripts in
       /scripts/functions :


              log_success_msg Logs a success message

              Example: log_success_msg "Frobnication successful"


              log_failure_msg Logs a failure message

              Example: log_failure_msg "Frobnication component froobz missing"


              log_warning_msg Logs a warning message

              Example: log_warning_msg "Only partial frobnication possible"


              log_begin_msg Logs a message that some processing step has begun


              log_end_msg Logs a message that some processing step is finished

              Example:

                     log_begin_msg "Frobnication begun"
                     # Do something
                     log_end_msg


              panic Logs an error message and executes a shell in the initramfs  image  to  allow
              the user to investigate the situation.

              Example: panic "Frobnication failed"


   Subdirectories
       Both /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts and /etc/initramfs-tools/scripts contains the fol‐
       lowing subdirectories.


              init-top the scripts in this directory are the first scripts to be  executed  after
              sysfs  and procfs have been mounted.  It also runs the udev hook for populating the
              /dev tree (udev will keep running until init-bottom).


              init-premount  happens  after  modules  specified  by  hooks  and   /etc/initramfs-
              tools/modules have been loaded.


              local-top  OR  nfs-top After these scripts have been executed, the root device node
              is expected to be present (local) or the network interface is expected to be usable
              (NFS).


              local-block  These scripts are called with the name of a local block device.  After
              these scripts have been executed, that device  node  should  be  present.   If  the
              local-top  or local-block scripts fail to create the wanted device node, the local-
              block scripts will be called periodically to try again.


              local-premount OR nfs-premount are run after the sanity of the root device has been
              verified (local) or the network interface has been brought up (NFS), but before the
              actual root fs has been mounted.


              local-bottom OR nfs-bottom are run after the rootfs has been mounted (local) or the
              NFS root share has been mounted.


              init-bottom  are  the last scripts to be executed before procfs and sysfs are moved
              to the real rootfs and execution is turned over to the init binary which should now
              be found in the mounted rootfs. udev is stopped.


   Boot parameters
              /conf/param.conf  allows  boot scripts to change exported variables that are listed
              on top of init. Write the new values to it. It will be sourced after an boot script
              run if it exists.



EXAMPLES
   Hook script
       An  example  hook  script  would  look something like this (and would usually be placed in
       /etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/frobnicate):

              #!/bin/sh
              # Example frobnication hook script

              PREREQ="lvm"
              prereqs()
              {
                   echo "$PREREQ"
              }

              case $1 in
              prereqs)
                   prereqs
                   exit 0
                   ;;
              esac

              . /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions
              # Begin real processing below this line

              if [ ! -x "/sbin/frobnicate" ]; then
                   exit 0
              fi

              force_load frobnicator interval=10
              cp /sbin/frobnicate "${DESTDIR}/sbin"
              exit 0


   Boot script
       An example boot script would look something like this (and  would  usually  be  placed  in
       /etc/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-top/frobnicate):

              #!/bin/sh
              # Example frobnication boot script

              PREREQ="lvm"
              prereqs()
              {
                   echo "$PREREQ"
              }

              case $1 in
              prereqs)
                   prereqs
                   exit 0
                   ;;
              esac

              . /scripts/functions
              # Begin real processing below this line
              if [ ! -x "/sbin/frobnicate" ]; then
                   panic "Frobnication executable not found"
              fi

              if [ ! -e "/dev/mapper/frobb" ]; then
                   panic "Frobnication device not found"
              fi

              log_begin_msg "Starting frobnication"
              /sbin/frobnicate "/dev/mapper/frobb" || panic "Frobnication failed"
              log_end_msg

              exit 0


   Exported variables
       init sets several variables for the boot scripts environment.


        ROOT  corresponds  to  the  root  boot  option.  Advanced boot scripts like cryptsetup or
              live-initramfs need to play tricks.  Otherwise keep it alone.

        ROOTDELAY, ROOTFLAGS, ROOTFSTYPE, IP
              corresponds to the rootdelay, rootflags, rootfstype or ip boot option.

        DPKG_ARCH
              allows arch specific boot actions.

        blacklist, panic, quiet, resume, noresume, resume_offset
              set according relevant boot option.

        break Useful for manual intervention during setup and coding an boot script.

        REASON
              Argument passed to the panic helper function.  Use to find out why  you  landed  in
              the initramfs shell.

        init  passes the path to init(8) usually /sbin/init.

        readonly
              is  the default for mounting the root corresponds to the ro bootarg.  Overridden by
              rw bootarg.

        rootmnt
              is the path where root gets mounted usually /root.

        debug indicates that a debug log is captured for further investigation.



KERNEL HOOKS
       initramfs-tools includes hook scripts that are called by kernel packages  on  installation
       and  removal,  so that an initramfs is automatically created, updated or deleted as neces‐
       sary.  The hook scripts do nothing if the environment variable INITRD is set to No.   This
       will  be the case for kernel packages built with make deb-pkg and with CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INI‐
       TRD not set in the kernel config, or built with  make-kpkg  and  not  using  the  --initrd
       option.



DEBUG
       It  is easy to check the generated initramfs for its content. One may need to double-check
       if it contains the relevant binaries, libs or modules:
              lsinitramfs /boot/initrd.img-3.16-3-amd64



FILES
       /run/initramfs/fsck.log
              Log of fsck commands run within the initramfs, with their output.

       /run/initramfs/fsck-root
              Exists only if fsck ran successfully for the root filesystem.

       /run/initramfs/fsck-usr
              Exists only if fsck ran successfully for the /usr filesystem.



AUTHOR
       The initramfs-tools are written by Maximilian Attems <maks AT debian.org>, Jeff Bailey <jbai‐
       ley AT raspberryginger.com> and numerous others.

       This  manual  was  written  by  David  Härdeman <david AT hardeman.nu>, updated by Maximilian
       Attems <maks AT debian.org>.


SEE ALSO
        initramfs.conf(5), mkinitramfs(8), update-initramfs(8), lsinitramfs(8).



Linux                                       2010/09/23                         INITRAMFS-TOOLS(8)


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