Public bug reported:
With linux-3.2.0-45, and likely all other versions, initrd is including
WAY more drivers that is needed to boot a system. This can be
problematic as it makes it hard to blacklist specific drivers, and
removing drivers /lib/modules doesn't help. Only someone with knowledge
of initrd would be able to fix these issues.
Specific problem that I encountered was when installing nVidia graphics
drivers. Ubuntu uses nouveau which performs poorly, and has other issues
(specifically with dual-displays). The factory drivers can't work and
refuse to install with nouveau is installed. After removing the drivers
from the expected place (/lib/modules), the system still had the nouveau
drivers (which aren't required to boot a system). So, I had to extract
the initrd image remove the kernel/drivers/gpu/drm branch (DRM? Really?
What self respecting Linux user would tolerate DRM), which contained
drivers nouveau, as well as drivers for many other graphics cards. The
newly created image worked fine, and I was now able to install the far
superior factory nVidia drivers.
The only drivers that should be contained in initrd are:
Block device drivers
filesystem drivers
chipset drivers
usb HID drivers
MAYBE wired ethernet drivers for netboot (but there can be conflicts which can
only be resolved with driver blacklists)
and any other drivers required for the system to boot
Graphics card drivers are not among those that are required--standard
vesa drivers works fine for first boot and generally don't cause issues
(initrd loads the driver anyway). After the system loads, let the boot
scripts selectively load what drivers are needed, and thus they can also
follow the blacklist rules whereas the default initrd does not.
** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1189016
Title:
New initrd images including drivers that should not be part of initrd
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