Re: "I: update-initramfs is disabled (live system is running on read-only media)" ...
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 06:43:19PM -0600, Albretch Mueller wrote: > On 2/16/24, to...@tuxteam.de wrote: > > On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 01:44:22PM -0600, Albretch Mueller wrote: [...] > > What is a "simple page" and what does "pixelation" mean in this > > context? Or is that irrelevant? > > A relatively simple, js-based web page I meant to say. Ah. A browser trying to render some thing from "out there". I see. > >> have searched and found out is that I will have to un/repack initramfs > >> ..., but I haven't found a relatively safe, complete procedure. > >> > >> How can you update the initramfs on read-only media? > > > > You can't. Initramfs resides in the boot medium. To update it, > > you have to write to said medium. > > Right on the Debian Kernel Handbook they tell you you may use > "initramfs hooks" for such things: > > > https://kernel-team.pages.debian.net/kernel-handbook/ch-update-hooks.html#s-initramfs-hooks > > even though I couldn't find exactly the > "/etc/initramfs/post-update.d/" directory used by update-initramfs > for post update hook options, I notice what seems to be a bunch of > those in: > > /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/ AFAIK, those are rather to modify the result of the initramfs build in various ways (e.g. include additional software in the image, configure things in a different way, etc.). They are invoked at different steps in the build process. What you need, as others have said, is to rebuild your write-only medium. You can tell mkinitramfs to deposit its result in a regular file (option -o, the man page). How it goes to that read-only medium is left as an exercise to the reader (unless you tell us how you build that in the first place, that is :-) Usually it goes to somewhere /boot/initramfs.img, if /boot is mounted properly. Cheers -- t signature.asc Description: PGP signature
Re: "I: update-initramfs is disabled (live system is running on read-only media)" ...
On 2/16/24, to...@tuxteam.de wrote: > On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 01:44:22PM -0600, Albretch Mueller wrote: >> I've got a relatively old laptop with an ATI Radeon HD card, which >> firmware I can't update. Wild pixelations happen even on relatively >> simple pages not just videos. It seems to be a common problem. What I > > What is a "simple page" and what does "pixelation" mean in this > context? Or is that irrelevant? A relatively simple, js-based web page I meant to say. >> have searched and found out is that I will have to un/repack initramfs >> ..., but I haven't found a relatively safe, complete procedure. >> >> How can you update the initramfs on read-only media? > > You can't. Initramfs resides in the boot medium. To update it, > you have to write to said medium. Right on the Debian Kernel Handbook they tell you you may use "initramfs hooks" for such things: https://kernel-team.pages.debian.net/kernel-handbook/ch-update-hooks.html#s-initramfs-hooks even though I couldn't find exactly the "/etc/initramfs/post-update.d/" directory used by update-initramfs for post update hook options, I notice what seems to be a bunch of those in: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/ lbrtchx
Re: "I: update-initramfs is disabled (live system is running on read-only media)" ...
Hi, Albretch Mueller wrote: > > How can you update the initramfs on read-only media? to...@tuxteam.de wrote: > You can't. Initramfs resides in the boot medium. To update it, > you have to write to said medium. One will have to create a new read-only medium. In case the original is a Debian Live ISO: One would have to extract the initramfs file out of the ISO. If its name is not known, then the boot loader configuration file should tell. Like in /boot/grub/grub.cfg of debian-live-12.0.0-amd64-standard.iso: initrd /live/initrd.img-6.1.0-9-amd64 or in its /isolinux/live.cfg: initrd /live/initrd.img Next one would modify the extracted initramfs. (This is an adventure on its own. Other will know more about it than me.) Finally one would pack up a new ISO, taking all files from the old ISO but replacing the initramfs file by the modified one from hard disk. Roughly like in https://wiki.debian.org/RepackBootableISO#In_xorriso_load_ISO_tree_and_write_modified_new_ISO Details could be determined when the name of ISO and initramfs file is known. If it's about DVD media, it would be interesting to learn about the DVD drives at the computer which shall do the modification. Have a nice day :) Thomas
Re: "I: update-initramfs is disabled (live system is running on read-only media)" ...
On 2024-02-16 at 14:44, Albretch Mueller wrote: > I've got a relatively old laptop with an ATI Radeon HD card, which > firmware I can't update. Wild pixelations happen even on relatively > simple pages not just videos. It seems to be a common problem. What I > have searched and found out is that I will have to un/repack initramfs > ..., but I haven't found a relatively safe, complete procedure. > > How can you update the initramfs on read-only media? At a guess: * Copy the read-only media to a writable location. This is "the image tree". * Extract the initramfs from the file which contains it, into an empty directory. This is "the extracted initramfs". * Modify the files in the extracted initramfs. The result is "the updated extracted initramfs". * Create a new initramfs whose contents are the updated extracted initramfs. Copy it into the image tree. The result is "the updated image tree". * Write the updated image tree to new read-only media. Depending on what form the media is, this may require other steps first; for example, if it's a CD or DVD, you will probably need to create an ISO using a tool like genisoimage or (I think) xorriso. Read-only media is by definition not update-able. You can only create new media, using a modified copy of the files from the read-only media. I have successfully built updated versions of live-boot CDs, with updated kernels and initrd environments and so forth, using this basic method. It has been a long time, but I can confirm that it works, if done correctly. Now, if what you want to know is how to extract the initramfs... that depends on how it's compressed, which may depend on what live-system boot media you're working with, but typically it will be a gzip-compressed cpio archive. In that case, working from memory based on the last time I was doing such a thing, what you'd need to do is something like: $ mkdir /tmp/extract $ cp /path/to/image/tree/initrd.gz /tmp/extract $ gunzip /tmp/extract/initrd.gz $ mkdir /tmp/extract/extracted-initramfs $ cd /tmp/extract/extracted-initramfs $ cpio -i < ../initrd And to create a new one (without overwriting anything created during the above), you'd do something like: $ mv /tmp/extract/initrd /tmp/extract/initrd.unmodified $ cd /tmp/extract/extracted-initramfs $ find . | cpio -o > ../initrd $ gzip -9 /tmp/extract/initrd $ mv /tmp/extract/initrd.gz /path/to/image/tree/initrd.gz *DO* *NOT* just take this as a recipe to follow. Read the documentation of the programs involved, look for examples online if that documentation doesn't make things clear in your mind, and use this as a *starting point* to figure out what the correct thing to do in your circumstance actually is. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: "I: update-initramfs is disabled (live system is running on read-only media)" ...
On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 01:44:22PM -0600, Albretch Mueller wrote: > I've got a relatively old laptop with an ATI Radeon HD card, which > firmware I can't update. Wild pixelations happen even on relatively > simple pages not just videos. It seems to be a common problem. What I What is a "simple page" and what does "pixelation" mean in this context? Or is that irrelevant? > have searched and found out is that I will have to un/repack initramfs > ..., but I haven't found a relatively safe, complete procedure. > > How can you update the initramfs on read-only media? You can't. Initramfs resides in the boot medium. To update it, you have to write to said medium. [Rest deleted since it seems irrelevant to above question] Cheers -- t signature.asc Description: PGP signature
"I: update-initramfs is disabled (live system is running on read-only media)" ...
I've got a relatively old laptop with an ATI Radeon HD card, which firmware I can't update. Wild pixelations happen even on relatively simple pages not just videos. It seems to be a common problem. What I have searched and found out is that I will have to un/repack initramfs ..., but I haven't found a relatively safe, complete procedure. How can you update the initramfs on read-only media? $ sudo lspci | grep "VGA\|Radeon" 00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320] $ sudo hwinfo --gfxcard 11: PCI 01.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA) [Created at pci.386] Unique ID: vSkL.bvK4VqmPxPA SysFS ID: /devices/pci:00/:00:01.0 SysFS BusID: :00:01.0 Hardware Class: graphics card Model: "ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320]" Vendor: pci 0x1002 "ATI Technologies Inc" Device: pci 0x9806 "Wrestler [Radeon HD 6320]" SubVendor: pci 0x17aa "Lenovo" SubDevice: pci 0x21ec Driver: "radeon" Driver Modules: "radeon" Memory Range: 0xe000-0xefff (ro,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0x3000-0x30ff (rw) Memory Range: 0xf030-0xf033 (rw,non-prefetchable) Memory Range: 0x000c-0x000d (rw,non-prefetchable,disabled) IRQ: 26 (4041584 events) I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw) Module Alias: "pci:v1002d9806sv17AAsd21ECbc03sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: radeon is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe radeon" Driver Info #1: Driver Status: amdgpu is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe amdgpu" Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Primary display adapter: #11 $ sudo dmesg | grep --ignore-case "VGA\|video\|display\|Radeon" [0.226971] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25 [0.287622] smpboot: CPU0: AMD E-450 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (family: 0x14, model: 0x2, stepping: 0x0) [0.417444] acpi PNP0A08:00: ignoring host bridge window [mem 0x000ce000-0x000c window] (conflicts with Video ROM [mem 0x000c-0x000ce5ff]) [0.418510] pci :00:01.0: Video device with shadowed ROM at [mem 0x000c-0x000d] [0.457408] pci :00:01.0: vgaarb: setting as boot VGA device [0.457408] pci :00:01.0: vgaarb: bridge control possible [0.457408] pci :00:01.0: vgaarb: VGA device added: decodes=io+mem,owns=io+mem,locks=none [0.457408] vgaarb: loaded [4.436446] ACPI: video: Video Device [VGA1] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no) [4.436916] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:01/input/input9 [5.659994] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled. [5.660219] radeon :00:01.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console [5.662092] radeon :00:01.0: VRAM: 384M 0x - 0x17FF (384M used) [5.662100] radeon :00:01.0: GTT: 1024M 0x1800 - 0x57FF [5.662185] [drm] radeon: 384M of VRAM memory ready [5.662191] [drm] radeon: 1024M of GTT memory ready. [5.662317] radeon :00:01.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware radeon/PALM_pfp.bin [5.662374] radeon :00:01.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware radeon/PALM_me.bin [5.662433] radeon :00:01.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware radeon/SUMO_rlc.bin [5.662693] [drm] radeon: dpm initialized [5.663081] radeon :00:01.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware radeon/SUMO_uvd.bin [5.684961] radeon :00:01.0: WB enabled [5.684968] radeon :00:01.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x18000c00 [5.684974] radeon :00:01.0: fence driver on ring 3 use gpu addr 0x18000c0c [5.685422] radeon :00:01.0: fence driver on ring 5 use gpu addr 0x00072118 [5.685956] radeon :00:01.0: radeon: MSI limited to 32-bit [5.686097] radeon :00:01.0: radeon: using MSI. [5.686153] [drm] radeon: irq initialized. [6.331634] radeon :00:01.0: [drm] Skipping radeon atom DIG backlight registration [6.338785] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors [6.338819] [drm] VGA-1 [6.785182] fbcon: radeondrmfb (fb0) is primary device [7.350484] radeon :00:01.0: [drm] fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device [7.363349] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.50.0 20080528 for :00:01.0 on minor 0 [ 25.811867] thinkpad_acpi: This ThinkPad has standard ACPI backlight brightness control, supported by the ACPI video driver $ lbrtchx