[Arm-netbook] Dissecting mmcblk0p1 and the boot process

[Frans Pop]

On Tuesday 16 March 2010, Frans Pop wrote:
> The next problem is how exactly to piggyback an initrd on top of the
> kernel. There are various alternatives, but I've not yet found something
> that works. Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> 1) Peter Anvin's "wraplinux" utility: is only for x86
> 2) The kernel's "bootpImage" make target: requires that "initrd_phys-y"
>    is defined for the machine type in arch/arm/mach-*/Makefile.boot,
>    but that file does not exist for smdk6410; and to create it, what
>    would be the correct value for initrd_phys-y?
> 3) Using mkimage: strange thing is that the netbook's u-boot does not
>    seem to understand kernels created using mkimage...
> 4) Any other options?

And the winner is... option 2).

Luke and I have managed to dissect the update kernel and it does have a 
gzipped initramfs included. I've managed to create a similar image myself 
with a D-I initrd included.

It boots, but dies with:
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempt to kill init!

So next step is to analyze why, probably be analyzing the contents of their 
update initrd.

Definite progress though :-D