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No, this is not a myth… It’s not a legend… It’s the truth and it’s doable!
As you probably guessed from the title, in this article we’ll uncover the truth behind
booting the linux kernel without using an initrd or an initramfs!
Before we even start, booting without an initrd/initramfs might speed up your boot time
by 100ms to 500ms. However, on some setups it may slow down your boot time by
800ms to 1sec!
Prerequisites:
You should compile your own kernel.
You should compile your own kernel.
You should compile your own kernel.
You should compile your own kernel.
I know this may sound like a nightmare for some of you, but that’s why
DOTSLASHLINUX was created. Plus don’t worry the kernel configuration series is
coming really soon, so look up to it!
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It doesn’t really matter what distro you use (that is if you know that your distro isn’t
going to break with the slightest change), but for those who want to tag along with me
then I’ll be using my all time favorite distro Gentoo Linux. The version of the kernel’s
source files that I’m using is 4.14.13.
cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
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root=UUID=“be9683c1-e42c-4a2b-18ad-97cc96b13ada
as a kernel command line parameter or inside your /etc/fstab, then simply change it to:
root=/dev/sda1
lba32
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boot=/dev/sda
default=gentoo
image=/boot/vmlinuz-4.14.13-gentoo-DOTSLASHLINUX
label=gentoo
read-only
root=/dev/sda1
append="rootfstype=ext4"
If you’re using ext4, navigate to Filesystems and make sure that CONFIG_EXT4_FS is
built-in:
Now you need to check what block devices are you using (to be more precise, the block
device where your root resides on), find out its kernel module and mark it as built-in.
This is simple, fire up a terminal emulator and type:
lspci -kk
In my case I’m using a Toshiba MQ01ABD100 which is a SATA HDD that uses
the ahci kernel module:
So I navigated to Device Drivers and then to Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers
(libata) and marked CONFIG_SATA_AHCIas built-in:
If you didn’t manage to find what module is used by your block device(s), then kindly
follow the small guide written at the beginning of The Linux Kernel Configuration Guide
Part 11 - Device Drivers —>.
vim /etc/default/grub
#
# See the grub info page for documentation on possible variables and
# their associated values.
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Gentoo"
# Boot the default entry this many seconds after the menu is displayed
GRUB_TIMEOUT=0
#GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
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#GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=
However, if you’re lucky enough to use LILO (like me xD), then the following
configuration file will do:
lba32
boot=/dev/sda
default=gentoo
image=/boot/vmlinuz-4.14.13-gentoo-DOTSLASHLINUX
label=gentoo
read-only
root=/dev/sda1
append="rootfstype=ext4"
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append="rootfstype=ext4"
lba32
boot=/dev/sda
default=gentoo
image=/boot/vmlinuz-4.14.13-gentoo-DOTSLASHLINUX
label=gentoo
read-only
append="root=/dev/sda1 rootfstype=ext4"
You may have to delete your initd/initramfs from your /bootand the initrd/initramfs
entries in your bootloader’s configuration files. Don’t forget to recompile your kernel
and to update your bootloader (if you’re using GRUB2 or LILO) before rebooting.
Conclusion
Booting without an initrd/initramfs is 100% doable so don’t think it’s impossible. You
may fail on your 1st attempt but don’t give up, just keep on trying different
combinations every time you compile your kernel and you should be good to go.
I’m using Gentoo Linux and can confirm that you can achieve a bootable kernel without
initrd/initramfs. If your kernel is panicking then debug the problem and keep trying until
it works. If you have a question as well then lemme know in the comments section
below.
18 Comments
17/05/2017
tbe
18/05/2017
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This is how I’ve done it ever since ‘94. Slackware is fine to this day without initrd.
atbd
01/07/2017
For more minimalist setup and if you have/like uefi, it can boot directly your kernel. You
just need efi support in the kernel and your vmlinuz as /boot/efi/boot/bootx64.efi :)
DOTSLASHLINUX
01/07/2017
@atbd, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, my laptop has a buggy uefi
implementation and all available UEFI solutions didn’t work for me. Thus, I sticked
with mbr. It’s a toshiba laptop from late 2013 and has both BIOS/uefi. Although I’m
able to boot using UEFI, boot time increases dramatically because of the buggy
firmware telling me that no bootable media found (lasts for like 5 seconds) then
proceeds to boot properly. Thanks for stopping by though fellow son of a tux ;P
hiraa
13/07/2017
DOTSLASHLINUX
13/07/2017
@hiraa, thanks for stopping by! I think it’s not about whether we can or can’t
because it’s possible, but it’ll be a really hard task to get it working on different
setups as today’s systems and setups are much more complicated than the ones
used in the 90s and pre 2010. You’ll have to include pretty much all the modules for
every block device you can think of (or at least the ones for the setups you’re going
to boot on). Even by doing that you’ll have a pretty hard time getting the kernel to
boot properly. I’d suggest asking the devs responsible for maintaining Slackware
GNU/Linux and Crux GNU/Linux live bootable ISOs on how they do it. On the other
hand booting without an initrd on a specific setup isn’t that hard at all.
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Francesco Turco
21/10/2017
What about encryption? Is it possible to disable initramfs and continue encrypting the
root filesystem with LUKS?
DOTSLASHLINUX
21/10/2017
@Francesco Turco, Thanks for stopping by! Unfortunately that is not possible at the
moment as an initrd/initramfs is needed to decrypt the root file system before it’s
mounted.
Although there were several attempts to fully dm-crypt the rootfs without using an
initrd/initramfs (some include storing the key between the MBR and the root
partition) but none are working as far as I know.
Some say that it might work using a plain cryptsetup and GRUB2, but I think that
beats the purpose of not using an initrd/initramfs for the sake of minimalism as
GRUB2 is considered bloated compared to LILO and EXTLINUX (that is if GRUB2
worked in the first place as you won’t be able to map crypt…).
Others may pass the key on the kernel command line, but that beats the purpose of
encrypting your system in the first place.
But don’t worry, I’m still experimenting with full disk encryption without an
initrd/initramfs. I’ll post an article once I get everything working perfectly.
cyberhoffman
31/10/2017
I suppose there should be something more in kernel config than just compile in hard
controller support (ahci in my case too) and disabling CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD. I had
added these options: “CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y”, “CONFIG_EXT4_FS=y”,
“CONFIG_CMDLINE=“root=/dev/sda2 rootfstype=ext4”“, “# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD is
not set”, compiled the kernel and copied it in efi - “cp /boot/vmlinuz-4.12.12-gentoo
/boot/efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi” (I boot system directly from efi, using initramfs is it ok)
but got only kernel panic after reboot - it couldnt find root partition.
DOTSLASHLINUX
31/10/2017
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@cyberhoffman, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to write the steps you
went through in order to boot without an initrd/initramfs on a GPT/EFI setup.
The thing is, the kernel options needed (in any article) are listed and explained
thoroughly in the 18-part kernel configuration series, in which I’ve explained what
options I’ve chosen for booting without initrd/initramfs, booting with microcode
prebuilt into the kernel, options required for bumblebee to work properly…etc
If you had the time I’d advise you to check the kernel configuration series and
compare them to your setup to see what options I went with.
The thing is, my late 2013 laptop has a very buggy UEFI implementation (which
would show no bootable media found for like 5-10 seconds before actually
booting… let alone the other bugs it has) ; thus, I wasn’t able to properly attempt a
no initrd/initramfs boot on an EFI system… and I really apologize for not being able
to do that…
Thanks again for your time! Let me know if you needed anything else.
alf
06/11/2017
Is it possible to use plymouth without initramfs? I’m sorry for the newbie questions as
I’m just exposed to linux.
DOTSLASHLINUX
10/11/2017
@alf, Thanks for stopping by! I’m afraid that isn’t possible as (at least as far as I
know) plymouth needs an initramfs to be built in and it’s highly unlikely that it would
be possible to get build it within the kernel itself.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions!
alf
10/11/2017
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I follow your tutorial, no initramfs and built in ucode into my custom kernel. since
plymouth depend on systemd and my os uses systemd, plymouth works flawlessly.
it even perform better since I include i915 into my kernel. since I use arch linux, I
think it is easier to compile kernel using Arch Build System.
thanks for your tutorial. Now my system boots faster and perform better.
DOTSLASHLINUX
10/11/2017
@alf, You’re most welcome! I’m super glad that you found my tutorials useful, and I
highly appreciate taking some of your time to write a comment!
PCmaniak
02/12/2017
Thank you for great article. My first kernel was built by genkernel (yes it’s gentoo). I
built my second kernel myself and it did not start because I did not build initramfs, so I
had to run genkernel again with initramfs only option. Slowly I figured out how to boot
without initramfs. But I modified fstab and grub only. Some how it boots with .config still
set to BLK_DEV_INITRD [=y] without initrams. Got to correct it. On the next kernel
upgrade. I am on 4.12 now. Thanks again!
DOTSLASHLINUX
02/12/2017
@PCmaniak, You’re most welcome! Thanks for stopping by fellow Gentoo user :P
Ken
07/01/2018
Thanks so much for this method vs the use of initrd. Glad to see it become a part of the
Gentoo Wiki, AND, that is being recommended more and more by the gentoo
community.
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DOTSLASHLINUX
02/12/2017
It’s true that using an initrd/initramfs just adds complexity and the burden of
maintaining an extra filesystem when your setup is extremely minimal as you won’t
need it most of the times. Although it has its uses, but for the sake of minimalism it
would be better to do without it.
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