MKINITCPIO(5)

NAME
mkinitcpio - Create an initial ramdisk environment

SYNOPSIS
mkinitcpio [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION
Creates an initial ramdisk environment for booting the linux kernel. The initial ramdisk is in essence a very small environment (early userspace) which loads various kernel modules and sets up necessary things before handing over control to init. This makes it possible to have, for example, encrypted root filesystems and root filesystems on a software RAID array. mkinitcpio allows for easy extension with custom hooks, has autodetection at runtime, and many other features.

OPTIONS

-c config
    Use config file to generate the ramdisk. Default: /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

-k kernelversion
    Use kernelversion. Default is the current running kernel.

-s filelist
    Saves a list of all the files in the initial ramdisk in filelist. Default: no; This means the filelist will not be retained if this option isn't specified. Useful for debugging purposes.

-b basedir
    Use basedir as a starting point for gathering information about the currently running system. Default: /.

-g filename
    Generate a CPIO image as filename. Default: no; this means nothing will be written to the filesystem unless this option is specified.

-a filelist
    Append to an existing filelist. Default no.

-p preset
    Build initial ramdisk according to specified preset. Presets are found in /etc/mkinitcpio.d

-m message
    Print message before passing control to kinit.

-S hooks
    Skip hooks when generating the image. Several hooks should be comma-separated.

-v
    Verbose output. Outputs more information about what's happening during creation of the ramdisk.

-M
    Display modules found via autodetection. mkinitcpio will automatically try to determine which kernel modules are needed to start your computer. This option lists which modules were detected.

-L
    List all available hooks.

-H hookname
    Output help for hookname hookname

-h
    Output a short overview of available command-line switches.

ABOUT HOOKS
A hook is a script that executes in the initial ramdisk. The order and which scripts are executed is found in the HOOKS=() array in the mkinitcpio configuration file. A hook will, for example, set up the udev device filesystem, load IDE modules, etc...

ABOUT PRESETS
A preset is a pre-defined definition on how to create an initial ramdisk. Instead of specifying the configuration file and which output file, every time you generate a new intial ramdisk, you define a preset and use the -p switch to generate an initial ramdisk according to your preset. Presets are located in /etc/mkinitcpio.d

FILES

/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
    Default configuration file for mkinitcpio.

/etc/mkinitcpio.d
    Folder containing mkinitcpio presets.

/lib/initcpio
    Files related to creating an initial ramdisk.

EXAMPLES

mkinitcpio
    Perform a dry-run. This will generate an initial ramdisk but will not write anything. Use -g to create the real image.

mkinitcpio -p kernel26
    Create an initial ramdisk based on the kernel26 preset.

SEE ALSO
A more thorough article on configuring mkinitcpio: <http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Configuring_mkinitcpio>

initrd(4)

BUGS
Upon writing this manpage, there were no noticeable bugs present. Please visit <http://bugs.archlinux.org/> for an up to date list.

AUTHORS
mkinitcpio created by the Arch Linux Developer community.

Manpage written by:

        • Glenn RedShift Matthys <glenn@opengate.be>

Manpage contributions by:

        • Jens byte Adam <j_adam@web.de>

        • Geir gejr Vaagland

        • Joerie Thralas de Gram <j.de.gram@gmail.com>

VERSION INFORMATION
Manpage written for mkinitcpio 0.5.17

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) Arch Linux