aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/doc/guix.texi
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorMathieu Othacehe <m.othacehe@gmail.com>2017-03-09 19:39:23 +0100
committerLudovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>2017-03-11 12:43:36 +0100
commit47bdc5a173708e9138dda62dd9de0c3a9b2b03ec (patch)
tree45853a96536884ce948b64829373c19220d7a116 /doc/guix.texi
parent4018745a224fd108e08e4d88d443130cc4c86bcc (diff)
downloadguix-47bdc5a173708e9138dda62dd9de0c3a9b2b03ec.tar
guix-47bdc5a173708e9138dda62dd9de0c3a9b2b03ec.tar.gz
linux-initrd: Add a raw-initrd and use it to define base-initrd.
* gnu/system/linux-initrd.scm (raw-initrd): New exported variable. (base-initrd): Use raw-initrd to build the initrd. * doc/guix.texi (Initial RAM Disk): Document it. Signed-off-by: Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/guix.texi')
-rw-r--r--doc/guix.texi47
1 files changed, 35 insertions, 12 deletions
diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi
index b6c89bc9b6..a602c701cb 100644
--- a/doc/guix.texi
+++ b/doc/guix.texi
@@ -13887,9 +13887,9 @@ kernel modules that may be needed to achieve that.
The @code{initrd} field of an @code{operating-system} declaration allows
you to specify which initrd you would like to use. The @code{(gnu
-system linux-initrd)} module provides two ways to build an initrd: the
-high-level @code{base-initrd} procedure, and the low-level
-@code{expression->initrd} procedure.
+system linux-initrd)} module provides three ways to build an initrd: the
+high-level @code{base-initrd} procedure and the low-level
+@code{raw-initrd} and @code{expression->initrd} procedures.
The @code{base-initrd} procedure is intended to cover most common uses.
For example, if you want to add a bunch of kernel modules to be loaded
@@ -13910,9 +13910,16 @@ The @code{base-initrd} procedure also handles common use cases that
involves using the system as a QEMU guest, or as a ``live'' system with
volatile root file system.
-The initial RAM disk produced by @code{base-initrd} honors several
-options passed on the Linux kernel command line (that is, arguments
-passed @i{via} the @code{linux} command of GRUB, or the
+The @code{base-initrd} procedure is built from @code{raw-initrd} procedure.
+Unlike @code{base-initrd}, @code{raw-initrd} doesn't do anything high-level,
+such as trying to guess which kernel modules and packages should be included
+to the initrd. An example use of @code{raw-initrd} is when a user has
+a custom Linux kernel configuration and default kernel modules included by
+@code{base-initrd} are not available.
+
+The initial RAM disk produced by @code{base-initrd} or @code{raw-initrd}
+honors several options passed on the Linux kernel command line
+(that is, arguments passed @i{via} the @code{linux} command of GRUB, or the
@code{-append} option of QEMU), notably:
@table @code
@@ -13951,19 +13958,23 @@ Manual}, for more information on Guile's REPL.
@end table
Now that you know all the features that initial RAM disks produced by
-@code{base-initrd} provide, here is how to use it and customize it
-further.
+@code{base-initrd} and @code{raw-initrd} provide,
+here is how to use it and customize it further.
@cindex initrd
@cindex initial RAM disk
-@deffn {Monadic Procedure} base-initrd @var{file-systems} @
- [#:qemu-networking? #f] [#:virtio? #t] [#:volatile-root? #f] @
- [#:extra-modules '()] [#:mapped-devices '()]
-Return a monadic derivation that builds a generic initrd. @var{file-systems} is
+@deffn {Monadic Procedure} raw-initrd @var{file-systems} @
+ [#:linux-modules '()] [#:mapped-devices '()] @
+ [#:helper-packages '()] [#:qemu-networking? #f] [#:volatile-root? #f]
+Return a monadic derivation that builds a raw initrd. @var{file-systems} is
a list of file systems to be mounted by the initrd, possibly in addition to
the root file system specified on the kernel command line via @code{--root}.
+@var{linux-modules} is a list of kernel modules to be loaded at boot time.
@var{mapped-devices} is a list of device mappings to realize before
@var{file-systems} are mounted (@pxref{Mapped Devices}).
+@var{helper-packages} is a list of packages to be copied in the initrd. It may
+include @code{e2fsck/static} or other packages needed by the initrd to check
+root partition.
When @var{qemu-networking?} is true, set up networking with the standard QEMU
parameters. When @var{virtio?} is true, load additional modules so that the
@@ -13971,6 +13982,18 @@ initrd can be used as a QEMU guest with para-virtualized I/O drivers.
When @var{volatile-root?} is true, the root file system is writable but any changes
to it are lost.
+@end deffn
+
+@deffn {Monadic Procedure} base-initrd @var{file-systems} @
+ [#:mapped-devices '()] [#:qemu-networking? #f] [#:volatile-root? #f]@
+ [#:virtio? #t] [#:extra-modules '()]
+Return a monadic derivation that builds a generic initrd. @var{file-systems} is
+a list of file systems to be mounted by the initrd like for @code{raw-initrd}.
+@var{mapped-devices}, @var{qemu-networking?} and @var{volatile-root?}
+also behaves as in @code{raw-initrd}.
+
+When @var{virtio?} is true, load additional modules so that the
+initrd can be used as a QEMU guest with para-virtualized I/O drivers.
The initrd is automatically populated with all the kernel modules necessary
for @var{file-systems} and for the given options. However, additional kernel