Initrd (short for English. Initial RAM Disk , a disk in random access memory for initial initialization ) is a temporary file system used by the Linux kernel at boot. Initrd is usually used for initial initialization before mounting "real" file systems. The Linux Kernel HOWTO (kernel assembly guide) writes that initrd is designed to solve the chicken and egg problem for the modular kernel: to mount the file system, you need a module to work with the disk and file system, and to read the module you need the file system with which this module read [1] .
Initramfs
A new concept of the boot disk has appeared in the Linux 2.6 kernel - it is a compressed gzip 'oh cpio archive.
Notes
- ↑ Kwan Lowe. Kernel Rebuild Guide (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment November 4, 2008. Archived on August 29, 2010.
Links
- M. Tim Jones. Linux initial RAM disk (initrd) overview . IBM developerWorks (July 31, 2006). - Learn about its anatomy, creation, and use in the Linux boot process. Date of treatment November 4, 2008.
- Dmitry Kulikovsky. A general idea of initrd (June 4, 2007). Date of treatment January 15, 2009. Archived March 14, 2012.