linux-kernel - Re: large initramfs causes h/w reset after decompressing

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:32:59 -0700
From:	"John Z. Bohach" <jzb2@...orsyst.com>
To:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc:	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
Subject: Re: large initramfs causes h/w reset after decompressing

On Thursday 14 July 2011 02:14:08 pm H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> On 07/14/2011 09:06 AM, John Z. Bohach wrote:
> > I have a large initramfs cpio file, about 890 MB, which expands to
> > 2.7 GB, and am running on linux-2.6.36.1, in 64-bit mode with 8 GB
> > of physical RAM.
> >
> > Upon loading the initramfs, I see the message "Decompressing..."
> > for a few seconds, and then comes a reset.
> >
> > This question has come up before...is there some sort of max size.
> > that I am exceeding?  With 8 GB of physical memory and 64-bit arch.
> > (AMD-II), certainly seems that there should be enough memory, no?
> >
> > Thanks...
>
> What bootloader are you using?  There are some bootloaders which
> don't allocate the initramfs in a very good spot.
>
> 	-hpa

I've actually gotten the improbable to work, and am PXE booting via 
syslinux and dhcp.

It all works fine with an initramfs of ~20 MB, but that's quite a diff. 
from 2.7 GB of expanded /root (890 MB cpio.tar.gz file).

But excuse my ignorance, I don't see the relevance of your 
question...the initramfs is part of the kernel itself...I simply load 
the kernel bzImage (all 890 MB) and that's where its all at...this is 
_not_ an initrd.

--john
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/