mkinitrd fails - Permission denied - Solved

[Jack Holden]

Jack Holden wrote:
> Dan wrote:
>> Jack Holden wrote:
>>> I am running FC5 with the 2.6.15-1.2054 kernel and mkinitrd-5.0.32.  
>>> When I try to create a new initrd, mkinitrd fails with the error:
>>>     /sbin/mkinitrd: line 975: initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.TEST.img 
>>> Permission denied
>>> I've tried using different file names with the same result.  I've 
>>> also tried when logged in as root from the initial login (boot level 
>>> 3) as well as via su from both the cli and xterm.  Same thing.  I've 
>>> also tried building the initrd in the /boot and /root directories.
>>>
>>> I believe that this is the version of mkinitrd that was included 
>>> with the installation.  I have updated everything via yum update, 
>>> but I can't run the 2.6.16-2080 kernel yet (problem with dmraid).  I 
>>> have the source packages for 2.6.15-2054 and 2.6.16-2080 installed.  
>>> I have successfully created initrd's before with this system, but I 
>>> can't remember if it was before or after yum update.  (I think it 
>>> was after because it was an attempt to fix the dmraid problem with 
>>> 2.6.16-2080.)
>>>
>>> Can anyone suggest a fix or something to look at?  I've looked at 
>>> mkinitrd and didn't see anything alarming about line 975.  I 
>>> appreciate any advice.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Jack Holden
>>>
>> Perhaps an SELinux issue. I don't know how to use it so check the 
>> vast numbers of posts on this list about fixing those issues. Look in 
>> your logs for avc denied messages.
>> -Dan
>>
>
> The suggestions I've gotten so far:
>
> 1 - Is /boot mounted as read only?
> I hate to admit this, but I don't set my systems up with separate 
> partitions.  Everything is mounted under / (except SWAP).  The file 
> system is mounted as read + write, and I've tried making the initrd in 
> /root and /boot with the same results.
>
> 2 - Could it be an SELinux problem?
> It's possible.  I'm not much of an SELinux expert.  However, I 
> disabled SELinux during the initial installation, and I think it's 
> still disabled.  I checked the config file in /etc/selinux and it 
> still appears to be disabled.
>
> Is anyone else having this problem?  TIA.
>
> Thanks,
> Jack Holden
>
>
Turns out this was a bone-head problem.  I started digging around in the 
mkinitrd script and realized that the script isn't path aware.  Target 
files like ./initrd.img are not created in the directory from which you 
run the script.  The script ends up in the /sys directory by the time it 
finishes putting the image file together.  Line 975 runs gzip on the 
image (which is in /tmp).  The script will fail if the target file 
doesn't point it away from /sys.  So, targets like /boot/initrd.img or 
/root/initrd.img will work, but ones like initrd.img or ./initrd.img 
will fail.

Thanks to everyone who suggested things to look at.  I hope this is 
helpful to someone else down the road.

Jack Holden

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