linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH RESEND] Documentation: update kernel parameter limit notes

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Date:   Mon, 6 Mar 2023 14:24:45 +0000
From:   James Addison <jay@...hosting.net>
To:     Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...radead.org>
Cc:     linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        corbet@....net
Subject: Re: [PATCH RESEND] Documentation: update kernel parameter limit notes

On Sun, 5 Mar 2023 at 23:17, Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...radead.org> wrote:
> I looked at this again.  It's not a limit on the number of kernel command line
> parameters AFAICT.  It's a limit on the number of parameters that are passed to
> the init process.  Basically any parameter that is not recognized as a kernel
> parameter OR anything that is after "--" on the kernel command line is put into
> an array of limited size for passing to the init process.

Ah: that completely explains it, thank you; my testing was inadequete.

I had been testing this using fairly-arbitrary (and therefore unrecognized)
parameter names, so it is expected and correct that when the number of those
exceeds MAX_INIT_ARGS, the kernel does not boot.

For completeness I'll perform similar testing soon using known-parameter names.