The initramfs image is an optionally gzipped cpio archive (which must have been built with cpio --format=newc in order for the kernel to recognise it --- note this is not the default behaviour for cpio). The filesystem is unpacked into a ramfs or similar, so there is no special size restriction. The first user process to run in the initramfs is usally /init I believe.
[ 1.846490] rootfs image is not initramfs (junk in compressed archive); looks like an initrd The kernel always falls back to assuming initrd if the ramdisk image doesn't look like a cpio archive (which is just a whole filesystem image which is dumped into a ramdisk block device, which must be big enough, and mounted). If the initramfs image was built by hand, it might have been built wrongly; otherwise I guess there may be a kernel or qemu problem, or the image is truncated etc. -- Can't boot initramfses https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/524893 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Server Team, which is subscribed to qemu-kvm in ubuntu. -- Ubuntu-server-bugs mailing list Ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server-bugs