[BusyBox] Booting oddities...

[Robert Kaiser]

On Mit, 14 Feb 2001 you wrote:
> Hello all,
> 	Thanks for the response all!  I looked at the files that Vladimir
> pointed me to, and it looks similar to mine.  Here's what I'm doing:
> 
> ### Begin Syslinux.cfg ###
> 
> display syslinux.dpy
> timeout 0
> default linux
> append=load_ramdisk=1 initrd=rootfs.gz initrd_archive=minix
> ramdisk_size=8192 root=/dev/ram0 boot=/dev/fd0u1680,msdos
> 
> ### End Syslinux.cfg ###

What exactly is the initrd_archive option for ?

I'm asking because I have seen setups like this in the Linux Router Project
(LRP). However, LRP uses a patched kernel that can extract a tar image
unto the root FS. rootfs.gz would have to be a compressed _tar_ file in this
case, but the name suggests that it really is a compressed filesystem image.

The error message you see basically means that the kernel apparently can't find
init (the suggestion to pass init= is just plain misleading IMHO). This could
have a number of reasons:

- uncompressing/extracting the root image failed for some reason
    (are there any prior messages suggestion something like this ?)

- init is not in your root filesystem (for busybox, it should be a link
   to the busybox binary)

- the busybox binary is not in your root filesystem

- the ramdisk size you gave (8192) may be too small to hold all the files
   in your root filesystem, so some files (e.g. init) could be missing on the
  ramdisk

Just a hint: you can download a working floppy image from 

   http://www.elinos.com/demos/busybox.html

(Don't get confused by the german text, just grab the busybox.flp file, "cat"
it  to a floppy disk (i.e. cat busybox.flp >/dev/fd0) and boot from it)

This disk pretty much does what you are trying to do. Maybe examining a working
example helps you to track down the problem.

Hope this helps

Rob


----------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Kaiser                         email: rkaiser at sysgo.de
SYSGO RTS GmbH
Am Pfaffenstein 14                    phone: (49) 6136 9948-762
D-55270 Klein-Winternheim / Germany   fax:   (49) 6136 9948-10