README
======

Description
-----------

Mkinitramfs is a shell script that will generate a cpio init ram filesystem.

The script itself simply checks for minimum required kernel capabilities,
recursively copies in useful applications and their library dependencies (using
ldd), and uses cpio to generate an init ram filesystem.

Note that this also includes an init script used for booting from the initrd
image, into the actual system. It includes support for dm-crypt encrypted root
volumes, as well as providing simple debugging capabilities.


Usage
-----

The script, mkinitramfs, creates a new init ram filesystem.

To use it, simply execute it, with the version of the kernel specified, and it
will create the initrd file, written to `/boot/initrd-${version}`. A
corresponding `/boot/vmlinuz-${version}` and `/boot/System.map-${version}` is
required. This version format is recognized by grub, so grub-mkconfig will
detect these files.

**NOTE**: This will overwrite the `/boot/initrd-${version}` file if it exists.
If you have something there that you want to keep, be sure to back it up before
running mkinitramfs.


Init Arguments
--------------

### root

* **required**: yes
* **examples**:
** root=/dev/sda3
** root=UUID=92b74fd7-6e4f-4a52-ad40-fac874410ca3
** root=LABEL=system

Path to the root device. Supports a dev path, LABEL, and UUID values. If device
is encrypted, the user will be prompted to decrypt it with a password. The
decrypted device will be mounted at _/dev/mapper/_dev_sda3_ (per the example).

**NOTE**: This only works with encrypted devices where the encrypted device
contains only a filesystem. If the encrypted device contains its own partition
table, see the _cryptroot_ directive.



### quiet

* **required**: no
* **examples**: NA

Applying this kernel parameter will quiet the boot process significantly. This
parameter is respected by the mkinitramfs init process as well as the Linux
kernel.


### initdebug

* **required**: no
* **examples**: NA

Enables step-by-step boot mode. Each step requires the user to hit the return
key. 

**NOTE**: Enabling this will probably make the boot process go very slowly as
it requires a user response for every step.


### interractive

* **required**: no
* **examples**: NA

Drops the user into an interractive shell, but before performing the first
mount operation, which is where most problems start to occur. This can be
useful for implementing new features in the init script, debugging problems,
checking the environment, etc.