genkernel-next initramfs fails to resolve mdadm disk label

triquetra · Last edited by triquetra on Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:21 pm; edited 2 times in total

I am writing this from a laptop booted on gentoo-sources 3.11.2 with an initramfs made March 19, 2014 (with genkernel? -- I don't remember for sure)

I recently upgraded to gentoo-sources 3.18.2 and built an initramfs with genkernel-next (tried both versions 59 and 60).

My boot command line designates root as "LABEL=gentoo". This boots fine with my old kernel and initramfs, but with the new initramfs made with genkernel-next, the computer cannot resolve "LABEL=gentoo"

I'm not sure what steps to take to find and resolve the issue. Any ideas?

triquetra · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 9:00 pm Post subject:

initramfs with genkernel-next-59 produces a kernel panic
initramfs with genkernel-next-60 produces a prompt asking to designate the root block device, with LABEL=gentoo as the default

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 10:41 pm Post subject:

hello.

please share your grub config assuming that you use grub

you need to specify in your bootloader which kernel to use, initramfs, and other parameters to get it done.

triquetra · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 8:22 pm Post subject:

Thank you for the reply. I do not use grub, I use rEFInd. Here's the relevant config from refind.conf:

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:44 am Post subject:

you may adjust your title and add refind.

Sorry I never used refind bootloader. Grub2 is rock solid

triquetra · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:00 pm Post subject:

The identical kernel boot command line parameters are passed to both the 3.18.2 kernel with accompanying initramfs (made with genkernel-next) and the 3.11.2 kernel with accompanying initramfs (made with genkernel). The only difference is that the one with an initramfs made with genkernel-next (3.18.2) will not resolve the "LABEL=gentoo" drive designation. This suggests that either there is an error in the configuration or compilation of the 3.18.2 kernel (though I don't know what it would be), or that there is an issue with the configuration, compilation, or my improper use of genkernel-next. Additionally, refind has been working fine with many different kernels over the last 2.5 years, and I only now have trouble booting with an initramfs generated by genkernel-next. I see no reason to conclude from this evidence that refind is at issue.

For the record, the kernel command line parameters passed to both kernels is as follows:

triquetra · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 4:33 pm Post subject:

I may have narrowed down the issue some more. I tried booting the 3.18.2 kernel with the initramfs created for the 3.11.2 kernel (with the old genkernel), and it still does not boot. For some reason, it appears that my mdadm raid array may not be properly detected with the 3.18.2 kernel.

EDIT: scratch that. I got the startup directives backwards. The 3.11.2 kernel will not boot with the 3.18.2 (genkernel-next) initramfs, but the 3.18.2 kernel will boot with the 3.11.2 (old genkernel) initramfs. I think that narrows the problem down to genkernel-next. It still seems to be an issue with the genkernel-next initramfs recognizing my mdadm raid devices.

triquetra · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:20 pm Post subject:

Here's what I get at boot (manually transcribed from boot screen) when booting with the genkernel-next produced initramfs:

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 5:49 pm Post subject:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/gentoo/user/295108

do yuo have those settings accordingly?

and => with genkernel => http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Systemd/Installing_Gnome3_from_scratch basically the same as it is systemd with genkernel and mdadm, should be appropriate too

dobbs · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 6:17 pm Post subject:

This sounds very similar to the problem I'm having (my forum searches somehow missed this topic).

Does your old (working) initramfs use udev or mdev?

jburns · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:25 am Post subject:

Have you seen the bug report sys-kernel/genkernel-next-50 Unable to resolve root on md array? Adding to the bug report or generating a new bug may help.

triquetra · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:15 am Post subject:

Roman_Gruber · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 8:31 am Post subject:

Please do not make a duplicate bug, just post a comment on this bug with the url of this post. ty.

Generating duplicate bugs do not help anyone..

dobbs · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 4:25 pm Post subject:

Well I hadn't seen it. :P Will comment on the bug later, need to get to work.

triquetra · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 4:44 pm Post subject:

triquetra · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 4:52 pm Post subject:

triquetra · Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:04 pm Post subject:

An examination of the successful, old (genkernel) initramfs startup output showed the following additional line not present in the failed, new (genkernel-next) initramfs startup output:

triquetra · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:30 pm Post subject: