Re: [gentoo-catalyst] How is initrd built?

[Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@gentoo.org>]

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On Thu, 2005-07-07 at 09:50 -0400, Paul Smith wrote:
> In the new version, the initrd doesn't appear to be an ext2 filesystem
> anymore... it's some kind of compressed cpio file?!?!  Anyway, that's
> what "file" tells me.

It is an initramfs image.  You can work with it just like any other cpio
archive.

> Is there any way I can work with this new format in a similar manner
> (mount it, modify it, etc.)?

There's no need to mount it, as it isn't a filesystem image, but a cpio
archive.  It's about the same as a tarball, except different.  :P

We switched to initramfs because it allowed us to work around the
absolute *hack* that I had included in genkernel for gensplash support
and allows us to use something sane.  It also keeps us from having to
statically install the splash theme into the kernel bzImage itself,
saving a ton of space on the CD images created.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering - Strategic Lead/QA Manager
Games - Developer
Gentoo Linux

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