On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 3:22 PM, Colin Watson <cjwat...@ubuntu.com> wrote: > On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 03:12:51PM -0600, richardvo...@gmail.com wrote: >> On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 7:22 AM, KESHAV P.R. <skodab...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > Yes, the patch definitely works. It is part of Fedora's GRUB2 src-rpm >> > package. But I changed the 10_linux.in file manually before compiling >> > grub2. >> > The strange thing is that even without any initrd line in the menuentry, >> > the >> > Fedora system boots successfully (my guess is that the Fedora's kernel >> > searches for its compatible initramfs file without relying on grub or >> > grub2). >> >> Linux initramfs is inside the kernel binary, not a separate file, and >> so needs no extra support from the bootloader. > > Linux *can* behave this way if you want it to, but most distributions do > not set it up like that. This mode is usually only used by self-built > kernels, and it's not universal even there since sometimes it's more > convenient to be able to change the initramfs separately.
Linux 2.6 MUST have an initramfs. You can either embed one inside the kernel or let the kernel create one dynamically with hardcoded content. I suspect you're thinking of initrd, which is optional. After creating or copying the initramfs from within the kernel image (thus establishing a ramfs mount point), the kernel will decode and copy the content of any initrd selected by the bootloader to the mounted ramfs. > > -- > Colin Watson [cjwat...@ubuntu.com] > > > _______________________________________________ > Grub-devel mailing list > Grub-devel@gnu.org > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel > _______________________________________________ Grub-devel mailing list Grub-devel@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel