The Wanderer composed on 2023-02-03 07:16 (UTC-0500): > FTLIW, my own primary desktop has an AMD graphics card (and has since > before the initial Debian install), and doesn't have these large > initrds:
Oh, but it does.... > $ lh /boot/initrd.img-* > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 36M Sep 2 08:27 /boot/initrd.img-5.18.0-4-amd64 > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 36M Dec 9 07:53 /boot/initrd.img-6.0.0-4-amd64 Maybe you're used to seeing super-mega-bloated 88Ms on Ubuntu or Mint? :p # lspci | grep VGA 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller # ls -Gg /disks/deb09/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 18276933 Jan 10 2018 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-5-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 18408183 Jun 28 2018 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-6-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 18433876 Apr 16 2019 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-8-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 18440856 Jul 11 2019 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-9-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 18441992 Aug 13 2020 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-11-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 18466332 Aug 13 2020 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-13-amd64 # ls -Gg /disks/deb10/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 25922058 Apr 16 2019 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-4-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 25949741 Oct 25 2019 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-5-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26082559 Mar 1 2020 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-6-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26113578 Aug 13 2020 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-8-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26129895 Aug 13 2020 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-10-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26151861 Nov 16 2020 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-12-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26256167 Mar 4 2021 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-14-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7562145 Dec 2 22:52 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7563646 Dec 2 23:07 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-22-amd64 # ls -Gg /disks/deb11/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 28466736 Jul 3 2021 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-7-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7202005 Jan 6 2022 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-8-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7204312 Jan 6 2022 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-10-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7206932 Jun 28 2022 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-15-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7229728 Dec 2 23:33 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-16-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7268292 Dec 2 23:34 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-19-amd64 # ls -Gg /boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 7206932 Jun 28 2022 /boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-15-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 8298606 Jun 28 2022 /boot/initrd.img-5.18.0-2-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 10839185 Dec 3 00:26 /boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-2-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 9761664 Dec 3 02:29 /boot/initrd.img-6.0.0-5-amd64 # lspci | grep VGA 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Oland [Radeon HD 8570 / R5 430 OEM / R7 240/340 / Radeon 520 OEM] # ls -Gg /disks/deb08/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 15412555 Sep 9 2015 /disks/deb08/boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-amd640804 -rw-r--r-- 1 18063287 Jul 7 2018 /disks/deb08/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 18306518 Aug 31 2018 /disks/deb08/boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-0.bpo.6-amd64 # ls -Gg /disks/deb09/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 27733865 Jun 19 2021 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-0.bpo.6-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 27691107 Jun 19 2021 /disks/deb09/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-0.bpo.16-amd64 # ls -Gg /disks/deb10/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 23241848 Dec 14 2018 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.18.0-3-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 23674941 Jan 16 2019 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-1-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 25353945 Mar 21 2019 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-2-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 25867391 Jul 24 2019 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-5-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7557702 Dec 27 02:55 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-6-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7559906 Dec 27 02:54 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-8-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26131451 Aug 1 2020 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-10-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 26143689 Nov 19 2020 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-11-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7549154 Jun 19 2021 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-16-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7558701 Jan 8 2022 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-18-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7563600 Nov 5 19:12 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-21-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7563946 Dec 27 03:02 /disks/deb10/boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-23-amd64 # ls -Gg /disks/deb11/boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 7198759 Jun 19 2021 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-7-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7201221 Jan 9 2022 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-8-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7204241 Jan 9 2022 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-10-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7204191 Mar 11 2022 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-12-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7267715 Nov 5 23:35 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-18-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 7267709 Dec 27 03:25 /disks/deb11/boot/initrd.img-5.10.0-20-amd64 # ls -Gg /boot/ini*4 -rw-r--r-- 1 7555717 Apr 20 2022 /boot/initrd.img-5.16.0-6-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 8669504 Aug 4 2022 /boot/initrd.img-5.18.0-3-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 34590685 Sep 13 01:26 /boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-1-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 34599920 Oct 20 02:29 /boot/initrd.img-5.19.0-2-amd64 -rw-r--r-- 1 27584982 Dec 27 04:54 /boot/initrd.img-6.0.0-6-amd64 > I haven't dug into them any deeper than this, but it may be worth having > the confirmation that it's not something common to all machines with AMD > graphics cards. My dataset on https://paste.debian.net/plainh/16afc442 of 19 PCs includes 5 outright AMD/ATIs, and one in which the initial initrds were with ATI, but the HD4650 with frozen cooler fan was removed after Christmas to use the Intel Ironlake IGP. Before the ballooning mine were in the 6M-9M range. Here they jumped into the 30M+ range before they went into the <30M range when I switched on zstd by installing it. COMPRESS=zstd in initramfs.conf is pretty useless when zstd isn't installed: ATI HD6450: 7649297 May 15 2022 initrd.img-5.17.0-1-amd64 gzip without firmware 34289103 Jun 20 2022 initrd.img-5.18.0-1-amd64 gzip with firmware 34788924 Aug 6 22:15 initrd.img-5.18.0-3-amd64 gzip 23754843 Oct 21 03:16 initrd.img-5.19.0-2-amd64 zstd -- Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion, based on faith, not based on science. Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata
