On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 10:56:19AM +0200, Didier Kryn wrote:
> Le 19/05/2016 21:14, Rainer Weikusat a écrit :
> >[I already strongly suspected the below but didn't want to write about
> >it until I had a chance to test]
> >
> >THe initramfs doesn't need to include all the modules belonging to the
> >kernel, just those which are needed to mount the real root filesystem
> >(containing the remaining driver modules). This would mean all
> >filesystems and storage device drivers you want to support but, eg, no
> >networking modules (nfsroot sounds like an implausible feature for a
> >live image).
>

>     If you mean to run your live system with the cdrom as the root
> filesystem, then the only drivers you need during the initramfs
> phase are those needed to mount the cdrom, ie the iso9660 filesystem
> and the drivers needed to access the cdrom, which includes the USB
> stack in case of a separate cdrom drive.

You need a few more things for a generic live, e.g. support for all
the disk controllers, support for aufs and other union filesystems,
the full USB stack, and several drivers from the scsi/ bundle, which
are needed to deal with cdroms...

But yes, in principle you can trim out eveything else, which is what I
have done so far.

On top of that, I am now working in a further stripped-down initrd
which lacks also support for esoteric hw (scsi controllers,
fiberchannel, and the like), and the result is an xz image which is
barely 7 MB. I am planning to include it as a boot option in the
unofficial minimal live, which might be used in 99% of the cases and
will allow the system to boot with as low as 64 MB of RAM :)

>

>      Actually, either you keep the stock kernel and put only the few
> modules you need in the initramfs, or you configure your kernel
> build to have all these drivers and filesystem statically linked and
> you don't even need an initramfs at all.

>

Yep, but this is not a viable option for live systems, since it is not
easy to customise...

HND

KatolaZ

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[ Enzo Nicosia aka KatolaZ --- GLUG Catania -- Freaknet Medialab ]
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