PROBLEM: kernel 2.4.3 will not boot on systems with initrd files DESCRIPTION Building kernel 2.4.3 and attempting to boot it failed. The problem turned out to be in the modutils-2.4.5 rpm for i386. DETAIL After building the 2.4.3 kernel and moving the boot modules to the initrd image, it was noted the the system stopped when trying to load modules for the root filesystem device. First solution attempted was to get the i386 rpm from kernel.org for the latest (2.4.5) modutils and install, copying the insmod program to the initrd image. This fails, with the message "insmod: no such program" at boot. Examination showed that the binary provided was not static linked. Got the source from kernel.org and built. By default this still isn't static linked! Changed the common Makfile to set LDFLAGS to "-static -s" and built again. After install and copy to initrd image this resulted in a bootable system. While it is possible to copy the libraries needed to the initrd image, it becomes larger than the default ramdisk size (at least on my system). And including the drivers in the kernel hurts portability and makes the kernel too large to boot from floppy. SYSTEMS AFFECTED Redhat 7.x and similar using configurations which have the root device driver loaded from modules. SUGGESTED FIX None needed, but the kernel "Changes" file should include a note that people using initrd will need to rebuild them static along with the note that a newer modutils is needed. Even for people who build their own initrd files, this is NOT obvious! -- bill davidsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> CTO, TMR Associates, Inc Doing interesting things with little computers since 1979. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/