just trying to clarify some issues for a little HOWTO i'm writing, so i'll start with some really fundamental questions: * as i read it, the Kconfig variable CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD entirely dictates whether you have any sort of initrd support whatsoever -- that includes in-kernel cpio image, or any external initial ramdisk, right? it seems pretty clear, but i just wanted to make sure i wasn't missing something subtle. * in arch/x86/kernel/setup_32.c, you can see how, based on that Kconfig variable, the setup routine will access an external initrd image that was handed in by the boot loader: #ifdef CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD if (boot_params.hdr.type_of_loader && boot_params.hdr.ramdisk_image) { unsigned long ramdisk_image = boot_params.hdr.ramdisk_image; unsigned long ramdisk_size = boot_params.hdr.ramdisk_size; unsigned long ramdisk_end = ramdisk_image + ramdisk_size; ... and will set initrd_start and initrd_end accordingly. i'm guessing that, even if you don't select initrd support, the boot loader will still have loaded that information at those locations -- you just won't bother accessing it, is that correct? * while CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD identifies general initrd support, you still need to additionally select CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM if you want external initrd support that isn't just a compressed cpio image, but is instead a filesystem image (perhaps ext2). right? that should do for now. rday ======================================================================== Robert P. J. Day Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA http://crashcourse.ca ======================================================================== -- To unsubscribe from this list: send an email with "unsubscribe kernelnewbies" to ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxx Please read the FAQ at http://kernelnewbies.org/FAQ