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Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2001 16:04:08 -0500
From: Jeremy Jackson <jerj@coplanar.net>
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To: Peter Samuelson <peter@cadcamlab.org>
CC: Jeremy <prrthd25@yahoo.com>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: VFS: Cannot open root device
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Peter Samuelson wrote:

> [Jeremy Jackson]
> > try command 'man mkinitrd' under redhat for hints about initial
> > ramdisk.
>
> I have been puzzled about this for quite some time.  Why exactly does
> everyone always recommend using 'mkinitrd' on Red Hat systems?  It
> seems to me that if you are compiling a kernel for a specific server
> anyway, it is a much more reliable proposition to just compile in
> whatever drivers you need to boot.
>
> initrd's are inherently clumsy and fragile, to my way of thinking.
> I've always thought they should only be used to support diverse or
> unknown hardware, or odd cases like crypto loopback root.  Are there
> other advantages to 'mkinitrd' in the case of a custom kernel for a
> single machine?
>

no the reason redhat uses it is to allow a generic kernel for everyone.
having *ALL* drivers in kernel would make it huge, and some drivers
conflict with each other (not many) so they couldn't all be in there.

If you have made a custom kernel (that is configured properly) you don't
need to bother.  The question is if you configured it properly :)

I would suggest taking a config from redhat (it puts them in
/usr/src/linux/configs)
and just tweaking that. (sorry if i already said that once)

other pitfalls include not having the right root= entry (or missing one) in
lilo.conf.

>
> Peter
> -
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