MKINITRAMFS(8)							mkinitramfs manual						    MKINITRAMFS(8)

NAME

       mkinitramfs - low-level tool for generating an initramfs image

SYNOPSIS

       mkinitramfs [-c compress] [-d confdir] [-k] -o outfile [-r root] [-v] [version]

       mkinitramfs [--supported-host-version= hversion]

       mkinitramfs [--supported-target-version= tversion]

DESCRIPTION

       The  mkinitramfs  script  generates an initramfs image.	The initramfs is a compressed cpio archive. The archive can be used on a different
       box of the same arch with the corresponding Linux kernel.  mkinitramfs is meant for advanced usage.  On	your  local  box  update-initramfs
       calls  mkinitramfs  with the relevant parameters.  update-initramfs keeps sha1sum of generated initramfs. It takes care to generate backups
       and eventually runs the bootloader.

       At boot time, the kernel unpacks that archive into RAM disk, mounts and uses it as initial root file system. All finding of the root device
       happens in this early userspace.

OPTIONS

	-c  compress
	      Override the COMPRESS setting in initramfs.conf.

	-d  confdir
	      Set an alternate configuration directory.

	-k    Keep the temporary directory used to make the image.

	-o  outfile
	      Write the image to outfile.

	-r  root
	      Override the ROOT setting in initramfs.conf.

	-v    Set the verbose mode output.

	version
	      Set the kernel version of the initramfs image (defaults to the running kernel).

       --supported-host-version=hversion
	      This option queries if mkinitramfs can create ramdisks on a running kernel of version hversion.

       --supported-target-version=tversion
	      This option queries if mkinitramfs can create ramdisks for kernel version tversion.

ENVIRONMENT

       mkinitramfs  honours the TMPDIR environment variable. If set, it uses subdirectories in the given directory to create its temporary working
       directories. Else it uses /tmp as default value for that purpose. The given directory should be on a filesystem which allows the  execution
       of files stored there, i.e.  should not be mounted with the noexec mount option.

FILES

       /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf
	      The default configuration file for the script. See initramfs.conf(5) for a description of the available configuration parameter.

       /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
	      Specified  modules  will be put in the generated image and loaded when the system boots. The format - one per line - is identical to
	      that of /etc/modules, which is described in modules(5).

       /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d
	      The conf.d directory allows one to hardcode bootargs at initramfs build time via config snippets. This allows one  to  set  ROOT	or
	      RESUME.  This is especially useful for bootloaders, which do not pass an root bootarg.

       /etc/initramfs-tools/DSDT.aml
	      If this file exists, it will be appended to the initramfs in a way that causes it to be loaded by ACPI.

EXAMPLES

       Create an initramfs for current running kernel:

       mkinitramfs -o ~/tmp/initramfs-$(uname -r)

       Create an initramfs for specific kernel and keep builddirs:

       mkinitramfs -k -o ~/tmp/initramfs-2.6.21-686 2.6.21-686

       Debug initramfs creation (check out written logfile)

       sh -x mkinitramfs -o ~/tmp/initramfs-$(uname -r) 2> ~/tmp/log

AUTHOR

       The initramfs-tools are written by Maximilian Attems <maks@debian.org>, Jeff Bailey <jbailey@raspberryginger.com> and numerous others.

SEE ALSO

	initramfs.conf(5), initramfs-tools(8), update-initramfs(8).

Linux								    2010/04/07							    MKINITRAMFS(8)