initramfs vs installer initrd

[Prarit Bhargava]

On 08/12/2015 10:39 AM, Donavan Lance wrote:
> 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
> 

FWIW -- there are/can be some compression differences from the early microcode
stuff.  I'll ping the anaconda folks at some point to see about switching the
name to initramfs instead of initrd.

P.

> 
> - Donavan
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