From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG  Fri Nov 24 18:32:49 2006
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG>
X-Original-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7FEA816A403
	for <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>; Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:32:49 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from imp@bsdimp.com)
Received: from harmony.bsdimp.com (vc4-2-0-87.dsl.netrack.net [199.45.160.85])
	by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6979143D67
	for <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>; Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:32:02 +0000 (GMT)
	(envelope-from imp@bsdimp.com)
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by harmony.bsdimp.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id kAOIVoRw041217;
	Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:31:50 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from imp@bsdimp.com)
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:32:34 -0700 (MST)
Message-Id: <20061124.113234.-2101771679.imp@bsdimp.com>
To: aag.lists@gmail.com
From: "M. Warner Losh" <imp@bsdimp.com>
In-Reply-To: <2f3a439f0611142305n441d3adwf7738ae40f9103e3@mail.gmail.com>
References: <2f3a439f0611142305n441d3adwf7738ae40f9103e3@mail.gmail.com>
X-Mailer: Mew version 4.2 on Emacs 21.3 / Mule 5.0 (SAKAKI)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.0
	(harmony.bsdimp.com [127.0.0.1]);
	Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:31:50 -0700 (MST)
Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Ramdisk support
X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD
	<freebsd-hackers.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-hackers-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-hackers-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers>,
	<mailto:freebsd-hackers-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:32:49 -0000

In message: <2f3a439f0611142305n441d3adwf7738ae40f9103e3@mail.gmail.com>
            "Aditya Godbole" <aag.lists@gmail.com> writes:
: Is there any ramdisk support in freebsd, as there is in netbsd? If
: there is no such functionality right now, is anyone working on it?
: What are the alternatives if I want to mount a root filesytem from ram?

mdconfig will create one at run time.

If you want to compile it into the kernel, then you need to create
your image (mine is for an ARM, and I call my image ARM-MD).  You then
need the following config options:

options         MD_ROOT                 #MD is a potential root device
options         MD_ROOT_SIZE=8192       # 8MB ram disk
makeoptions     MFS_IMAGE=/home/imp/ARM-MD
options         ROOTDEVNAME=\"ufs:md0\"

in your kernel.  This is for -current.  I'm unsure if the MFS_IMAGE
stuff has been MFC'd or not.  If not, then you'll need to perform the
following steps after you build the kernel to add the image:

	@dd if="${MFS_IMAGE}" ibs=8192 of="${KERNEL_KO}"		\
	   obs=`strings -at d "${KERNEL_KO}" |				\
	         grep "MFS Filesystem goes here" | awk '{print $$1}'`	\
	   oseek=1 conv=notrunc 2>/dev/null &&				\
	 strings ${KERNEL_KO} |						\
	 grep 'MFS Filesystem had better STOP here' > /dev/null ||	\
	 (rm ${KERNEL_KO} && echo 'MFS image too large' && false)

where KERNEL_KO is typically 'kernel'.

Warner