The entry initrd=/boot/initrd.2.2.12-20.img in lilo.conf

[Karim Manji]

Hi

What does the entry
"initrd=/boot/initrd.2.2.12-20.img" in lilo.conf do. And how do you create this file.

KM

[I_M · Accepted solution]

Hi

The line is called "initrd"; initial RAM disk image for scsi boot disk.

If you have scsi boot disk and if you don't include the scsi driver into your kernel, you need some trick to load scsi driver into kernel.
It is the "initrd".

If you want to make initrd.img file, use "mkinitrd" command.

# initrd kernel-version

Say, you have 2.2.12-20 kernel,
mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.2.12-20.img 2.2.12-20

Remember, this is for the scsi disk. So you don't need to use the initrd if you have IDE boot disk. Most of the case IDE driver *IS* in the kernel.
And if you have scsi boot disk and your kernel include the scsi driver, then you don't need to use initrd.

Regards,

[Jeff Billman]

initrd is not just for SCSI. It deepnds on what your BIOS needs to boot. I just installed RH 7.1 on a Vectra and it installed an initrd by default for booting off the IDE drive.