Modified kernel results in Kernel Panic - No init found.

[tji]

I have seen several reports of this problem in the forum, but no solutions.

I tried to modify the kernel in a CD-boot Knoppix (I needed devfs support, so I grabbed the Knoppix-kernel-source package, kept the same kernel config except for devfs, and recompiled). When I boot the CD, it grabe root.img, and then gives the following message:

Kernel panic : No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel

If I use the default boot.img, my slightly modified Knoppix CD boots fine. It's only when I try to use the image with my kernel that I have problems.

When I made the new boot.img, I modified as little as possible. I kept the same mroot, I just replaced the kernel.

Is there something else I'm missing? Or, does anyone else have a working boot.img that includes a kernel with devfs support?

Thanks,
Todd

[SillyFly]

hmm...

I had a similar error once....
try re-running syslinux on your new boot.img (the one with your kernel on it)

http://syslinux.zytor.com/

[garyng]

That is the last message but what about other messages like can the script linuxrc find your clooped image and mount it etc.

INIT not found just mean that when the linuxrc exit, the kernel will proceed to use the new root system and search for /etc/init to run and failed. So the most likely cause(as KNOPPIX doesn't not switch real root device) would be that it failed to mount the image does the KNOPPIX fs is not 'imported' in.

More messages are needed.

[pboddie]

Kernel panic : No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel

If I use the default boot.img, my slightly modified Knoppix CD boots fine. It's only when I try to use the image with my kernel that I have problems.


I would imagine that you don't have the necessary kernel modules in your initial root filesystem (I suppose that's boot.img) to mount your root filesystem. At least, that's my experience from other distributions and from the typical behaviour of "make install" on the Linux kernel sources.



When I made the new boot.img, I modified as little as possible. I kept the same mroot, I just replaced the kernel.

Is there something else I'm missing? Or, does anyone else have a working boot.img that includes a kernel with devfs support?


My standard workaround when trying out a custom kernel is to reuse the old initial root filesystem image for the shipped kernel and to replace the kernel and modules in that image (or rather a copy of it). I don't know how wise that is, but the standard kernel Makefiles don't really help me find a reliable alternative.

[jtally]

I've run into this problen myself. To be safe you should replace the kernel modules in the miniroot and recompile cloop and replace that, but this is not the cause of your problem. I beleve that your problem is caused by the init in the miniroot being uncompatable with your new kernel. In the case of knoppix init is statically linked with ash (the initial shell). So you will need to recompile ash-knoppix against your new kernel and sources(it's on Klaus's site somewhere).

jTal