initramfs vs installer initrd

[Donavan Lance]

On Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Neil Horman <nhorman at redhat.com> wrote:
> I was usually under the impression that it was at this point just a nomenclature
> thing.  Initrds used to be fs image files that were mounted via loopback block
> devices while initramfs files are cpio files that are copied into a tmpfs file
> system.  I thought both dracut and kernel install targets used initramfs at this
> point, but the latter just kept the naming for convienience.
>
> Note, I've always just assumed this, not directly checked, so I may be wrong.
>
> Neil

AFAIK this is correct. I don't think anything actually uses initrd
anymore but the name has stuck around - to refer to either initrd or
initramfs. Even the plymouth initrd image is actually an initramfs (I
believe).

Some reading for the interested:
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/filesystems/ramfs-rootfs-initramfs.txt
https://www.linux.com/learn/linux-training/92607-the-kernel-newbie-corner-qinitrdq-and-qinitramfsq-whats-up-with-that


- Donavan