[klibc] Linux early userspace doubts

[maximilian attems]

hello,

On Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 06:05:07PM +0530, Prashant Batra wrote:
> 
> I am a newbie into kernel booting process.
> I have read few things about boot process of the linux kernel. I am stuck at
> few things, which I am confident, someone from the list might help on -
> 
> 
>    - If I pass a ramfs image as an intrd paramter from the bootloader (say
>    grub), then will the kernel treat this as a ramfs image only?

no.
it will check if initramfs or initrd and consequently unpack.

>    - initrd image is also, packed using cpio archive, then how does the
>    kernel come to know that this is an initrd ot initramfs image. Is there some
>    type information included and if yes, how can I see that from a linux
>    command.

initrd is a fs image, like cramfs or ext2 or such, so aboves is wrong.
and please you don't want initrd, they are as dead as 2.4 kernel.

>    - While building initrd/initramfs, how are the things to be included into
>    the image chosen.

see for example how kinit does it in klibc or initramfs-tools
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/libs/klibc/klibc.git
or
git clone git://anonscm.debian.org/kernel/initramfs-tools.git
 
(Aboves assume you have git installed)

> Thanks in advance.
> 
> P.S. If this is not the right place to post the question, could you please
> point a more appropriate list.

you might want to look at lwn.net and initramfs for the initial discussions,
current mailing list is initramfs at vger.kernel.org


kind regards

-- 
maks