[KLUG Members] Re: Laptop reiser corruption and fixing it

[Bruce Smith]

> > I think you missed the point.  (I didn't explain it very well)
> > Do this (not really) on a Redhat 7.2 SCSI system w/ stock RH
> > kernel:
> >   rmdir /initrd
> 
> I've never seen an "/initrd" directory.

>From a Redhat 7.2 system of mine:

  # ls -ld /initrd
  drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         1024 Jun 21  2001 /initrd

Now you've seen one!  :-)   (BTW, it's empty)

  # rpm -qf /initrd
  filesystem-2.1.6-2

And guess what?  I didn't create it, it came with Redhat!

> >   # now wait a few weeks and forget you removed that directory,
> >   # and forget all about this conversation.
> >   shutdown -r 0
> > Guess what?  Your system will NOT BOOT!  And you have no idea why.
> > (because you forgot about this conversation and the error message
> > isn't any help - cannot load init program, or some such)
> > It took me a long time to figure out Redhat NOW requires a
> > directory named /initrd when you are using an initrd during the
> > boot.  (this is a _NEW_ requirement)
> 
> ???  I'm running 7.2 and using an initrd, but I created it myself.

The directory, or the file?

> > It has nothing to do with GRUB or LILO or the fact that I just
> > upgraded to the new Redhat kernel right before the reboot.  (the
> > old kernel no longer booted either).  And my backup partition
> > didn't boot either because it was copied over after I removed
> > /initrd.  (and that has nothing to do with a tar vs. cpio copy
> > either :)
> 
> ???  I'm still not following why RedHat requires the directory?

All I know for sure, if that directory is missing, my system will not
boot, and it dies around the time it's trying to load the initrd-file.

My _guess_ is the system now mounts the initrd-file on the 
/initrd directory (loopback).

--------------------------------------------
Bruce Smith                bruce@armintl.com
System Administrator / Network Administrator
Armstrong International, Inc.
Three Rivers, Michigan  49093  USA
http://www.armstrong-intl.com/
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