From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Nov 15 13:44:42 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E72AE16A412 for ; Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:44:42 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (lurza.secnetix.de [83.120.8.8]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 461FB43D46 for ; Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:44:42 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (tytmli@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id kAFDiZpq097518; Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:44:40 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.13.4/8.13.1/Submit) id kAFDiZmh097517; Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:44:35 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from olli) Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:44:35 +0100 (CET) Message-Id: <200611151344.kAFDiZmh097517@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, aag.lists@gmail.com In-Reply-To: <2f3a439f0611150355n3dd81845ydbeb0a7b597fb087@mail.gmail.com> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-hackers User-Agent: tin/1.8.2-20060425 ("Shillay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/4.11-STABLE (i386)) X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Wed, 15 Nov 2006 14:44:41 +0100 (CET) Cc: Subject: Re: Ramdisk support X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, aag.lists@gmail.com List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006 13:44:43 -0000 Aditya Godbole wrote: > Oliver Fromme wrote: > > Aditya Godbole wrote: > > > Is there any ramdisk support in freebsd, as there is in netbsd? > > > What are the alternatives if I want to mount a root filesytem from ram? > > > > You mean a diskless setup? I think there's a detailed > > description of diskless setups in the FreeBSD Handbook. > > You might also want to look at the diskless(8) manpage. > > I was looking for something like initrd support of Linux or the > mdsetimage of NetBSD. The boot loader can pre-load the root filesystem image as an md(4) device, similar to loading a splash screen. The kernel option to enable that feature is called MD_ROOT, and I think it's even enabled by default in the GENERIC kernel. You can also put the image of the root file system into the kernel itself, so it doesn't have to be loaded separately. The kernel option to allocate appropriate space is called MD_ROOT_SIZE. > I have no disc or network card support for my hardware at the moment. Then where are you booting from? At least your kernel has to come from somewhere, i.e. you need either networking or some kind of media (disk, USB stick or similar). Best regards Oliver -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing Dienstleistungen mit Schwerpunkt FreeBSD: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd Any opinions expressed in this message may be personal to the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of secnetix in any way. "I have stopped reading Stephen King novels. Now I just read C code instead." -- Richard A. O'Keefe