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Hi all,
I want to create a Fedora LiveCD with Kernel 2.6.9. I first just want a very simple LiveCD which only boots and give be a commandline. So I compiled the kernel with default settings and used busybox with default settings to get support for differt kind of commands.
I stored the files which busybox created and stored them inside an initrd.img which i compressed and but on a cd. Together with isolinux.bin, isolinux.cfg, vmlinuz (the kernel). In isolinux.cfg i put the following
label linux
kernel vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=initrd.img
When i was booting i get an error that an initial console cannot be created. I made inside the initrd.img a dev directory and copied /dev/console to it. Now the error is gone but a new one is created.
RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 168k freed
Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.
When i put init=/sbin/init inside the isolinux.cfg nothing is changing. I read on the internet that by default /sbin/init is loaded.
I hope somebody can help me with this. I really want to know how the boot proces is working step by step because a lot of how to guides are putting all lot of useless stuff for me in there livecd but don't explain what is really important. I am using linux for some time now but i want to make a next step to know what is happing behind the scene.
I you give me an answer please remember i was only a fedora gnome user which want to learn more about linux. So not everything is known by me.
Thanx.
Behind the scenes of Linux
You may want to first try out doing a Linux from Scratch before you try liveCDs to understands bits.
On the liveCD do you have rc scripts needed by /sbin/init?
You could pass init=/bin/sh, if you just want a simple command line interface.
Thanx you for your response.
Thanx you for your response. I will look at the linuxfromscratch site. I think that my problem is not the init file but something different because when i change it to /bin/sh i get the same error. Maybe there goes something wrong with mounting the root filesystem on the cd?
Libc
Make sure initrd has /libc/libc.so.6,/libc/ld-linux.so.2 and /libc/libdl.so.2
Busybox static
Thanx for your response. I changed the compilation of busybox so that no dynamic linking was used. Now the init is found correctly. Get some error with:
Bummer, could not run '/etc/init.d/rcS': Permission denied
Will have a look at this error to see what is the problem. But i am a step farther. Thanx
Permissions
You need to set the execute bit on /etc/init.d/rcS in initrd. I believe it can be done with most file managers (eg Nautilus, Konqueror etc) in GUI -:)
Or something like this from the initrd mount point:
Cannot log in
Okey also fix that problem. I know get a login prompt like
(none) login:
If I login with root/root (with I have created in the passwd, group, shadow and shadow- files) i get an error that Login incorrect
After three times i get the error
login[196]: invalid password for `UNKNOWN' on `tty1'
Why is there UNKNOWN and not 'root'. And what can be the reason that logging in is not working?
Login
Try "root" with no slashs.
The login you enter in is searched for in passwd, thus case-sensitive and bit sensitive.
By it saying 'UNKNOWN' it is saying "root/root" does not exist in passwd.
passwd should look similar to:
group should look similar to:
You also need to add /etc/limits, /etc/login.access and /etc/login.defs in initrd.
Make sure /root directory (it can be empty) exist on initrd
setkeycodes problem
Also solved the logging in problem. Thanx.
Now the livecd is working but i have some problems with some messages with tell me that keys are not recognized. When i type setkeycodes e059 237 for example (which i found on the internet) then it is outside the range.
How to solve this little thing?
Use kbd instead
setkeycodes e059 237 works with kbd
Download ftp://ftp.win.tue.nl/pub/linux-local/utils/kbd/kbd-1.12.tar.gz and install it like:
WithPit How is this done?
I want to create a LiveCD of a Linux install (Fedora Core 3) that I have. I have a very base install with no X windows. I wouldnt need to include BusyBox in the img. Can you give me the step by step to creating this LiveCD from an Install that I currently have up and running?
thanks