Kerlen 2.4.13 and ramdisks

[Chris Fowler]

Yea.  I had to bump it up once.  The funny thing is that the package is the
same size.  8mb on flash.  8mb via tftp.  It just seems that by using
a ramfs temp storage area cause major memory problems during initrd
execution.  I have my ramdisk size set to 16mb.  In case I need to grow in
the
future.


-----Original Message-----
From: Ian [mailto:Relativity at HumanHeuristic.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 6:34 PM
To: Chris Fowler
Cc: linux-mtd at lists.infradead.org
Subject: RE: Kerlen 2.4.13 and ramdisks



The only thing I can think to suggest is that you verify the max size of the
ramdisks
in either your kernel config, or your kernel boot params.  This will also
cause you
problems if its not set correctly.



  ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Chris Fowler" <cfowler at outpostsentinel.com>
>To: "Ian" <Relativity at humanheuristic.com>
>Subject:  RE: Kerlen 2.4.13 and ramdisks
>Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:50:58 -0500
>
>
> the image bein dd'ed is an ext2 file system image.  I eliminated most my
> problems with
> using 1 ram disk and no more.  2.2.X I used 3 ram disks.  In 2.4.X Im
> linmited to 1.
>
> The mount comand was an example.  If I used loopback, I would need to
mount
> it rw.  That would cause
> problems during power failure.  That is whay I take a software image, dd
it
> to memory and mount as the rootfs.
> If you lost power than you would only loose contents of memory.  If you
> failed to issue "save" for the config, you would loose
> working config too.
>
> My unit requires no shutdown nor supports.  "restart" simply tells the
> kernel to toggle the reset line
> on the machine no processes is killed in the restart.  They just don't
exist
> anymore.  I want a rootfs that
> is writable and not volatile.  If I loose it I do not care.  It is setting
> on flash as an encrytped file.
>
>
> ]-----Original Message-----
> From: Ian [mailto:Relativity at HumanHeuristic.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 5:41 PM
> To: Chris Fowler
> Cc: linux-mtd at lists.infradead.org
> Subject: RE: Kerlen 2.4.13 and ramdisks
>
>
> > loopback would not allow me to write to the image while running it.
> Making
> loopback allows you to make modifications without dd'ing it in and out of
> ramdisks (I used to use both methods for my initrd creation).
>
> > the flash (upgrade) process more difficult.  The FS is ext2 and I do not
> use
> > mount.
> I don't understand - you originally said;
>                   "mount /dev/ram6  fails."
>
> . but that said, I was mistaken too .. I meant the "-t" option ...
> Ie; mount -t ext2 /dev/ram6 /tmp/flash
>
>
> > The only way the kernel can mount this is by me putting it in memory
> first.
> > The only way to do that is with initrd.  It owkrs when initrd only
places
> > that data there.  When I try to download the *same* data from the
network
> > and put there it craps out.  I have to download the data first before I
> can
> If this is the case, where you download it and try to treat it like an
> initrd, then
> I'd be quicker to blame that process, than the ramdisk driver in 2.4.x --
> particularly
> when you say that it works as a straight initrd process (which is only
> running
> in ram anyway, as you know).
>
> > place it in /dev/ram7.  TO do that I mount a ram fs at a upper limit of
> > 32mb.  Download the file there then place it in /dev/ram7.  Just by
using
> > that memory as temporary storeage I'm haing problems.  I've read posts
> that
> > state that certain 2.4.X kernels have problems repecting the boundaries
of
> a
> > ramdisk.  They tend to overwrite those areas when needing memory.
> In all the work we did with ramdisks, I don't think we ever dd'd the img
> directly
> to the ramx device ... we always dd'd /dev/zero out to the size we wanted,
> mke2fs'd it, then untar'd our package ... and we never had any problems
with
> that (in high 2.2.x's and low 2.4.x's too).
>
>
> >
> >
> > lilo.conf:
> > ....
> >    root=/dev/ram7
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: linux-mtd-admin at lists.infradead.org
> > [mailto:linux-mtd-admin at lists.infradead.org]On Behalf Of Ian
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2002 4:51 PM
> > To: Chris Fowler
> > Cc: linux-mtd at lists.infradead.org
> > Subject: Re:Kerlen 2.4.13 and ramdisks
> >
> >
> >
> > If you have loopback support compiled in you can mount it directly
through
> > the loopback driver, without creating a ramdisk ...
> >
> > What was the error that mount gave?  You probably only need to specify
> > the "-o" parameter ... mount doesn't usually detect fancy filesystems
...
> >
> >
> >   ----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Chris Fowler" <cfowler at outpostsentinel.com>
> > >To: <linux-mtd at lists.infradead.org>
> > >Subject:  Kerlen 2.4.13 and ramdisks
> > >Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 10:33:33 -0500
> > >
> > > You guys might have ran across a ramdisk problem.  I have a feeling
that
> > kernel 2.4.13 is
> > not respecting my ramdisks.
> > >
> > >
> > > dd if=/etc/user.img of=/dev/ram6
> > >
> > > mount /dev/ram6  fails.
> > >
> > >
> > > Is this a problem?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ______________________________________________________
> > > Linux MTD discussion mailing list
> > > http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-mtd/
> > >
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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