Bug#640418: Does not use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems
* Colin Watson (cjwat...@debian.org) [110906 10:10]: > On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 08:58:16PM -0600, Javier Vasquez wrote: > > Even when gNewSense has been able to make grub work, not sure if only > > for laptops, or mini-pcs included, on debian this is broken for > > mini-pcs, when trying to load the initrd the machine just goes to > > limbo. So I'd suggest not to depend upon grub to make decisions about > > the kernel or initrd... > > The situation on mini-PCs should be fixed upstream now, I believe, and > at some point I'll get round to dropping a new package into > experimental. The current trunk grub works on mini-PCs, at least for me (speaking of both 2f and 2e). > Sure, you can do it with PMON or in other ways. In the case of d-i, > though, we'll continue installing and configuring GRUB by default. This > gives us more flexibility and better harmony across architectures. My > experience suggests that the more similarly different architectures are > handled, the better the chance that the less common ones will keep > working. Yes, we really should use grub where it is available. This also allows us to use serial at the mini-PCs. Andi -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#640418: Does not use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems
On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 08:58:16PM -0600, Javier Vasquez wrote: > Hi, I'm an user, not a dev, but I own a lemote mini-pc, not the > laptop, and the linux kernel for loongson-2f can be loaded through > initrd. Yep. Matt was more asking about other (non-Loongson) MIPS systems, though. > Actually that's the way archloong does it. This doesn't have > anything to do to the ability to boot with grub. True, PMON can do the same on this particular subarch. In general, though, this property depends on the boot loader in use; it just happens that in this case PMON and GRUB both support using an initrd. > Even when gNewSense has been able to make grub work, not sure if only > for laptops, or mini-pcs included, on debian this is broken for > mini-pcs, when trying to load the initrd the machine just goes to > limbo. So I'd suggest not to depend upon grub to make decisions about > the kernel or initrd... The situation on mini-PCs should be fixed upstream now, I believe, and at some point I'll get round to dropping a new package into experimental. > That said, I think using an initrd should be no problem, given that > other distros are using it. But this ability should not depend upont > grub. Sure, you can do it with PMON or in other ways. In the case of d-i, though, we'll continue installing and configuring GRUB by default. This gives us more flexibility and better harmony across architectures. My experience suggests that the more similarly different architectures are handled, the better the chance that the less common ones will keep working. -- Colin Watson [cjwat...@debian.org] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#640418: Does not use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems
Hi, I'm an user, not a dev, but I own a lemote mini-pc, not the laptop, and the linux kernel for loongson-2f can be loaded through initrd. Actually that's the way archloong does it. This doesn't have anything to do to the ability to boot with grub. Actually archloong does not support grub (neither any other bootloader on top of pmon) at all for lemote products... Even when gNewSense has been able to make grub work, not sure if only for laptops, or mini-pcs included, on debian this is broken for mini-pcs, when trying to load the initrd the machine just goes to limbo. So I'd suggest not to depend upon grub to make decisions about the kernel or initrd... That said, I think using an initrd should be no problem, given that other distros are using it. But this ability should not depend upont grub. Whether because grub is broken, or because people wan to still use the pmon bootloader, or because enabling pmon as a backup when things go wrong with grub, people should still be able to load the initrd, or to use an ext4 root FS. Notice also that to get ext4 support for root, there's no need for initrd either. It could be gotten by providing direct native support in the kernel. This sounds like the safest, cause then mounting the root FS will work no matter something else is broken, like loading the initrd or booting through grub... In the case of archloong, the dev decided to support initrd, and still ext4 is compiled directly within the kernel, not as a module, and it doesn't have problems having root FS being ext4... Thanks, -- Javier. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#640418: Does not use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems
Hi Joey, On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 10:42:33AM -0400, Joey Hess wrote: > Matt Kraai wrote: > > When I install on a Lemote Yeeloong, the resulting system fails to > > boot because the root filesystem uses ext4 and the kernel doesn't have > > a way to mount it since it doesn't use an initrd. The attached patch > > should make it do so. > > This adds subarch-specific logic to a new location. If mipsel > uses an initrd now, perhaps this in templates-arch should be changed? > Or does the kernel somehow only support an initrd on the loongson? > > Template: base-installer/kernel/linux/initrd-2.6 > Type: boolean > Default: true > Default[mips]: false > Default[mipsel]: false > Default[m68k]: false The loongson-2f sub-architecture uses GRUB and is able to use an initrd. I don't know about the other subarchitectures... Copying debian-mips to see if anyone there knows. -- Matt Kraai https://ftbfs.org/kraai -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
Bug#640418: Does not use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems
Matt Kraai wrote: > When I install on a Lemote Yeeloong, the resulting system fails to > boot because the root filesystem uses ext4 and the kernel doesn't have > a way to mount it since it doesn't use an initrd. The attached patch > should make it do so. This adds subarch-specific logic to a new location. If mipsel uses an initrd now, perhaps this in templates-arch should be changed? Or does the kernel somehow only support an initrd on the loongson? Template: base-installer/kernel/linux/initrd-2.6 Type: boolean Default: true Default[mips]: false Default[mipsel]: false Default[m68k]: false -- see shy jo signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Bug#640418: Does not use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems
Package: base-installer
Version: 1.120
Tags: patch
Hi,
When I install on a Lemote Yeeloong, the resulting system fails to
boot because the root filesystem uses ext4 and the kernel doesn't have
a way to mount it since it doesn't use an initrd. The attached patch
should make it do so.
--
Matt Kraai
https://ftbfs.org/kraai
>From d830a757e896aeba13104033b0dd58bfb11c0b40 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Matt Kraai
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011 14:57:59 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems.
---
debian/changelog |3 +++
library.sh |4
2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index bcd3da4..ef1fe93 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ base-installer (1.121) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
[ Samuel Thibault ]
* Propose kernels only of the same kind (closes: Bug#637432)
+ [ Matt Kraai ]
+ * Use an initrd on mipsel/loongson-2f systems.
+
-- Colin Watson Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:38:41 -0600
base-installer (1.120) unstable; urgency=low
diff --git a/library.sh b/library.sh
index c033eb0..74ea784 100644
--- a/library.sh
+++ b/library.sh
@@ -499,6 +499,10 @@ install_kernel_linux () {
do_initrd=yes
fi
+ if [ `archdetect` = mipsel/loongson-2f ]; then
+ do_initrd=yes
+ fi
+
if db_get base-installer/kernel/linux/link_in_boot ; then
if [ "$RET" = "true" ]; then
link_in_boot=yes
--
1.7.5.4
