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Tasklist

FS#4279 - Network bootable stock kernel

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by Sasha (kleptophobiac) - Sunday, 26 March 2006, 14:47 GMT
Last edited by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 06:43 GMT
Task Type Feature Request
Category Kernel
Status Closed
Assigned To Judd Vinet (judd)
Architecture not specified
Severity Medium
Priority Normal
Reported Version 0.7.1 Noodle
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date 2006-04-02
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 0
Private No

Details

NFS root and IP PNP are really useful for diskless workstations or other exotic setups. These additions to the kernel aren't that big, and would be fairly useful. Thanks for considering the request!

CONFIG_IP_PNP=y
CONFIG_IP_PNP_DHCP=y
CONFIG_IP_PNP_BOOTP=y
CONFIG_IP_PNP_RARP=y
CONFIG_ROOT_NFS=y
This task depends upon

Closed by  James Rayner (iphitus)
Sunday, 15 October 2006, 07:25 GMT
Reason for closing:  Won't fix
Additional comments about closing:  mkinitrd is unsupported, please use mkinitcpio.

if this issue still is a problem with mkinitcpio, dont hesitate to reopen, though im sure tpowa did some work with this.
Comment by Jan de Groot (JGC) - Sunday, 26 March 2006, 15:28 GMT
Ever thought about adding each and every network driver to the kernel to be able to boot from it? Or do you have options to pass initrd on networkboot?
Comment by Sasha (kleptophobiac) - Sunday, 26 March 2006, 16:35 GMT
initrd can be passed :) There is no need (i think...) to compile all the drivers in directly.
Comment by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 12:17 GMT
this is not possible, because kernel doesn'T allow to build this stuff as modules :(
Comment by Sasha (kleptophobiac) - Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 13:11 GMT
I don't see why they must be built as modules to be included...?

It doesn't increase the size of the kernel that much, and is potentially very useful. At the very least it should be included on the kernel on the installer iso so that people without CD drives have a lower effort method of installing Arch.
Comment by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 06:43 GMT
any idea judd?
Comment by Judd Vinet (judd) - Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 17:39 GMT
I think the main change for us would be to modify mkinitrd to also include ethernet modules in the initrd, otherwise NFS (obviously) won't work.

Sasha, do you have a working implementation yet? I don't think any developers boot over NFS, so it is difficult for us to implement and test.

Tpowa, could you manage this?
Comment by Sasha (kleptophobiac) - Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 18:17 GMT
I do have a working implementation. I had to change linuxrc a bit (it won't work non PXE now; my script-fu is terrible). I also included my network card module in the initrd. I recompiled the mkinitrd package with a newer busybox. 1.1.1 had to be patched from SVN to get NFS mount to work... but it does. I had to include nfs mount, ping, and ifconfig when compiling buysbox.
Comment by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Thursday, 30 March 2006, 07:05 GMT
well i can have a look at it but not now, after my exams when i have probably a bit of time i can have a look at it.
Comment by Sasha (kleptophobiac) - Thursday, 30 March 2006, 10:09 GMT
That's cool, there's no hurry. I think if someone who knew their shell scripting putzed around with the linuxrc that it would be possible to have netboot and drive boot in the same set of packages. If I make any progress in that direction, I'll post up the files.
Comment by Sasha (kleptophobiac) - Thursday, 30 March 2006, 10:12 GMT
Also, I forgot to mention. My NFS setup is running on the current stock kernel26. It would've been nice to have those kernel modifications as it would've made for a cleaner, faster setup... but it *is* possible to do this with by changing only the mkinitrd package.

Is there any specific reason we're still using busybox 1.01 rather than 1.1.1 with the 1.1.1.fixes patch?

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