MKINITRD(8)

📦 version 051, in ubuntu jammy

💖 MKINITRD — the dracut manual, bestie edition 💖

okay so this is the mkinitrd page from the dracut manual, and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're texting at 2am. grab a snack 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

mkinitrd — it's a compat wrapper, which calls dracut to generate an initramfs.

like. that's the whole personality. it's the middleman. the group-chat relay. it doesn't do the work itself, it just calls dracut and lets it cook. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

mkinitrd [OPTION...] [<initrd-image>] <kernel-version>

see how <initrd-image> is in brackets? that's the "optional queen" energy. <kernel-version> is not optional, bestie, you have to tell it which kernel you're talking about. 👑

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

mkinitrd creates an initramfs image <initrd-image> for the kernel with version <kernel-version> by calling "dracut".

that's it. that's the job. it's giving personal assistant who forwards your emails. 🎀

Important, and I mean it: if a more fine grained control over the resulting image is needed, "dracut" should be called directly. no cap. if you want the ✨artisanal✨ custom build, go straight to the source, don't make the wrapper do it. 🙈

✨ OPTIONS ✨

the full menu, no skips, no substitutions:

  • --version — print info about the version. just the tea on which version you're running. 🫖
  • -v, --verbose — increase verbosity level. more talking. more lore. turn it up. 📢
  • -f, --force — overwrite existing initramfs file. it will absolutely bulldoze what's already there, so know that going in. 💀
  • --image-version — append the kernel version to the target image, so you get <initrd-image>-<kernel-version>. cute little name tag for your file. 🏷️
  • --with=<module> — add the kernel module <module> to the initramfs. bring your friend along. 🫶
  • --preload=<module> — preload the kernel module <module> in the initramfs before any other kernel modules are loaded. this can be used to ensure a certain device naming, which should in theory be avoided and the use of symbolic links in /dev is encouraged. (so: it works, but the manpage is literally asking you to use symlinks in /dev instead. respect the elder wisdom. 🌸)
  • --nocompress — do not compress the resulting image. raw. unfiltered. no zip. ✨
  • --help — print a help message and exit. your little escape hatch. 🦋

✨ AVAILABILITY ✨

the mkinitrd command is part of the dracut package and is available from https://dracut.wiki.kernel.org 🌈

✨ AUTHORS ✨

Harald Hoyer 💜

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

dracut(8) — the main character. go read that one too, iykyk. 👑

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was the dracut manual page for mkinitrd, dated 2019-11-12 — go forth and build your initramfs, you absolute icon 🎀✨💖

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