[OT] initramfs, max size?

[Bruce Marshall]

On Wednesday 05 December 2007, Thomas Kaiser wrote:
> I am plying with initramfs and got some problem to load big initramfs
> images. My goal is to run my little ubuntu, about 150~ MB, totally in ram.
> Grub does not load such a big initrd :-) . I tried  a 7MB image which
> worked OK but the next one was about 14M and grub refused to load :-)
>
> Any help or pointers to which ML I should write.

1. The kernel has to set aside room for the initramfs so you are limited by 
what was specified for the kernel.

2.  The modules in initramfs are only used at boot time so that certain 
functions are available early on in the boot process.   After the boot is 
finished, normal module loading occurs and the modules in initramfs are no 
longer used.

I think you'd better read up on the boot process.

A better method would be to compile your own kernel and only include those 
modules needed by your system, and build them right into the kernel.  No 
initramfs would be needed and you could pare the kernel down a bit.