kernel-2.6.0-test11

[Mark Mielke]

On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 05:19:21PM -0500, Yanick Quirion wrote:
> mount: error 6 mounting ext3
> pivotroot: pivot_root (/sysroot,sysroot/initrd) failed: 2
> freeing unused kernel memory: 304k freed
> kernel panic: no init found. try passing init=option to kernel
> Anyone have an idea?

I have this problem as well, on my machine at work. I'm too lazy to fix it,
but I believe the answer is:

You have ext3 compiled as a module. Your root system is in ext3 format.
The kernel has no idea how to mount / in order to get access to
/lib/modules/2.4.xxx/kernel/fs/ext3.o. (Yet another chicken-and-the-egg
scenario)

The 'proper' way around this, if you wish to continue to compile ext3
as a module, is to provide an initrd image via the init= boot
parameter. The initrd image is a compressed ram file system that is
extracted at boot time. It contains just enough modules to get the kernel
to the next stage of boot - mounting /.

So, either your initrd image is corrupt, or you are not properly passing
init= on the kernel command line (/etc/grub.conf or /etc/lilo.conf).

Usually you won't see an obvious problem, as ext2 and ext3 are almost
entirely compatible (assuming the ext3 journal is flushed) and the kernel
knows it can continue loading with ext2. Just realize that / is no longer
journalled, which means a system crash may be painful...

Cheers,
mark

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