///// vim:set ts=4 sw=4 syntax=asciidoc noet: ///// mkinitcpio(8) ============= Name ---- mkinitcpio - Create an initial ramdisk environment Synopsis -------- 'mkinitcpio' [options] Description ----------- Creates an initial ramdisk environment for booting the linux kernel. The initial ramdisk is in essence a very small environment (early userspace) which loads various kernel modules and sets up necessary things before handing over control to init. This makes it possible to have, for example, encrypted root filesystems and root filesystems on a software RAID array. mkinitcpio allows for easy extension with custom hooks, has autodetection at runtime, and many other features. Options ------- *-A, \--addhooks* 'hooks':: Add the additional 'hooks' to the image. These will be processed in order after all other hooks from the config file. Multiple hooks should be comma-separated. This option can be specified multiple times. *-c, \--config* 'config':: Use 'config' file to generate the ramdisk. Default: /etc/mkinitcpio.conf *-g, \--generate* 'filename':: Generate a CPIO image as 'filename'. Default: no; this means nothing will be written to the filesystem unless this option is specified. *-H, \--hookhelp* 'hookname':: Output help for hookname 'hookname'. *-h, \--help*:: Output a short overview of available command-line switches. *-k, \--kernel* 'kernelversion':: Use 'kernelversion', instead of the current running kernel. This may be a path to a kernel image or a specific kernel version. *-L, \--listhooks*:: List all available hooks. *-M, \--automods*:: Display modules found via autodetection. mkinitcpio will automatically try to determine which kernel modules are needed to start your computer. This option lists which modules were detected. *-n, \--nocolor*:: Disable color output. *-p, \--preset* 'preset':: Build initramfs image(s) according to specified 'preset'. This may be a file in /etc/mkinitcpio.d (without the .preset extension) or a full, absolute path to a file. *-r, \--moduleroot* 'root':: Specifies the root directory to find modules in, defaulting to '/'. *-S, \--skiphooks* 'hooks':: Skip 'hooks' when generating the image. Multiple hooks should be comma-separated. This option can be specified multiple times. *-s, \--save*:: Saves the build directory for the initial ramdisk. Default: no; This means the directory will not be retained if this option isn't specified. Useful for debugging purposes. *-t, \--builddir* 'tmpdir':: Use 'tmpdir' as the temporary build directory instead of /tmp. 'tmpdir' must exist. The 'TMPDIR' environment variable is also honored to set this location, but the command line option will take precedence. *-v, \--verbose*:: Verbose output. Outputs more information about what's happening during creation of the ramdisk. *-z, \--compress* 'compress':: Override the compression method with the 'compress' program. About Presets ------------- A preset is a pre-defined definition on how to create an initial ramdisk. Instead of specifying the configuration file and which output file, every time you generate a new initial ramdisk, you define a preset and use the -p switch to generate an initial ramdisk according to your preset. Presets are located in /etc/mkinitcpio.d About Install Hooks ------------------- Install hooks are bash scripts which are sourced during mkinitcpio runtime in order to add modules, binaries, and other files to the image. A variety of functions exist to facilitate this. *add_module* 'modname':: Adds the module specified by 'modname' to the image. Dependencies are derived and added automatically. *add_binary* 'binary' [ 'destination' ] [ 'mode' ]:: Adds a binary to the image. The argument 'binary' need not be an absolute path and, if needed, a lookup will be performed. If the binary is a dynamically linked ELF binary, dependencies will be automatically added. Optionally, a destination within the initramfs image as well as a file mode can be specified. By default, the desintation and mode be taken from the source derived from 'binary'. *add_file* 'path' [ 'destination' ] [ 'mode' ]:: Adds a file and any needed parent directories to the image. Optionally, a destination within the initramfs image as well as a file mode can be specified. By default, the destination and mode will be taken from the source and mode of the file specified by the 'path'. *add_dir* 'path':: Adds a directory and its parents to the image. *add_full_dir* 'directory':: Recursively adds a directory to the image by walking the given path and calling *add_file*, *add_dir*, and *add_symlink* accordingly. This function will not follow symlinks, nor will it add the targets of symlinks. *add_symlink* 'path' [ 'link-target' ]:: Adds a symlink to the image at the specified `path`, optionally pointing to the specified `link-target`. If the `link-target` is not provided, it is assumed that this symlink exists in the real filesystem, and the target will be read using readlink. There is no checking done to ensure that the target of the symlink exists, and symlinks will not be followed recursively. *add_all_modules* [ '-f filter' ] *pattern*:: add modules to the image, without regard for the autodetect whitelist. *pattern* should be a subdirectory within the kernel tree describing a subset of modules to be included. Further refinement can be provided via the -f flag with an extended regular expression. *add_checked_modules* [ '-f filter' ] *pattern*:: Similar to *add_all_modules* with the constraint that only modules matching the whitelist generated by the autodetect hook will be added to the image. If the autodetect hook is not present in the image, this function is identical to *add_all_modules*. *add_runscript* [ 'scriptname' ]:: Adds a runtime hook to the image, which is a busybox ash compatible shell script. The name of the script is guarenteed to match the name of the hook the script is called. It *can* be overriden, but this is not recommended, as this only exists for legacy compatability. About Runtime Hooks ------------------- Runtime hooks added to the image via the *add_runscript* function from an install hook are able to provide extra functionality during early userspace. Specific functions in these files will run at different times. A hook can define one or more of these. At each hook point, hooks are run in the order that they are defined in the HOOKS variable, except for cleanup hooks which are run in reverse. *run_earlyhook*:: Functions of this name will be run once the API mounts have been setup and the kernel command line has been parsed. Daemons needed for early userspace should be started from this hook point. *run_hook*:: Functions of this name will be run after any early hooks, and after user defined modules have been installed. This is the most common hook point, and functionality such as scanning for LVM volumes and mapping encrypted volumes should be performed here. *run_latehook*:: Functions of this name will be run after root has been mounted. This is generally used for further necessary setup in the real root, such as mounting other system partitions. *run_cleanuphook*:: Functions of this name are run as late as possible. Any daemons started from a run_earlyhook function should be shut down here in preparation for switching to the real root. Early Init Environment ---------------------- mkinitcpio gives special treatment to certain environment variables passed on the kernel command line: *break*['=']:: If specified, mkinitcpio will start a shell during early init. The optional parameter controls when this occurs: when 'premount' or no parameter are specified, the shell will be launched prior to mounting root. If 'postmount' is specified, the shell will be launched after mounting root. *disablehooks=*'hooklist':: This is a comma separated list of hooks which will be skipped during early init. *earlymodules=*'modulelist':: This is a comma separated list of modules which will be loaded prior to any others. This is generally not needed, and usually points to a configuration or kernel problem. *quiet*:: Causes mkinitcpio to output fewer messages during boot. Errors will not be suppressed. *ro*:: Specifies that root should be mounted with readonly permissions. This is the default behavior. *rw*:: Specifies that root should be mounted with readwrite permissions. This is generally only useful if your initramfs uses the 'fsck' hook. *root=*'rootdevice':: This variable describes the root partition which early init will mount before passing control to the real init. mkinitcpio understands a variety of formats, the most basic of which is the path to the block device, either directly, such as '/dev/sda2', or using a udev symlink such as '/dev/disk/by-label/CorsairF80-root'. Support for identification by LABEL or UUID tags are also supported, such as, 'LABEL=CorsairF80-root'. As of util-linux 2.22, PARTUUID is also supported. Identification via hex encoded major/minor device ID is supported for legacy reasons, but should not be used. *rootdelay=*'seconds':: Sets the delay, in seconds, that mkinitcpio is willing to wait for the root device to show up, if it is not available immediately. This defaults to 5 seconds. If an invalid integer is passed, this variable will have no effect. These are only the variables that the core of mkinitcpio honor. Additional hooks may look for other environment variables and should be documented by the help output for the hook. Files ----- '/etc/mkinitcpio.conf':: Default configuration file for mkinitcpio. '/etc/mkinitcpio.d':: Folder containing mkinitcpio presets. '/usr/lib/initcpio/install':: '/lib/initcpio/install':: Search path for build time hooks. '/usr/lib/initcpio/hooks':: '/lib/initcpio/hooks':: Search path for early userspace runtime hooks. Examples -------- *mkinitcpio*:: Perform a 'dry-run'. This will generate an initial ramdisk but will not write anything. Use -g to create the real image. *mkinitcpio -p linux*:: Create an initial ramdisk based on the 'linux' preset. *mkinitcpio -g /boot/initramfs-linux.img -k /boot/vmlinuz-linux*:: Create an initial ramdisk for the kernel at /boot/vmlinuz-linux. The resulting image will be written to /boot/initramfs-linux.img. See also -------- A more thorough article on configuring mkinitcpio: *initrd*(4), *lsinitcpio*(1), *mkinitcpio.conf*(5) Bugs ---- Upon writing this manpage, there were no noticeable bugs present. Please visit for an up to date list. Authors ------- mkinitcpio is created and maintained by the Arch Linux Developer community. Copyright --------- Copyright (c) Arch Linux 2006-2012