linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v3] init/main.c: add warning when file specified in rdinit is inaccessible

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Message-Id: <984d02d0-3862-4641-b474-345736a13b9d@app.fastmail.com>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:30:44 -0400
From: "Lillian Berry" <lillian@...r-ark.net>
To: "Ahmad Fatoum" <a.fatoum@...gutronix.de>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc: "Andrew Morton" <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
 "Al Viro" <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>, "Leonard Goehrs" <lgo@...gutronix.de>,
 "kernel@...gutronix.de" <kernel@...gutronix.de>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3] init/main.c: add warning when file specified in rdinit is
 inaccessible

Hi,

On Tue, Oct 7, 2025, at 10:57 AM, Ahmad Fatoum wrote:
> On 7/7/25 11:14 AM, Lillian Berry wrote:
>> Avoid silently ignoring the initramfs when the file specified in rdinit
>> is not usable. This prints an error that clearly explains the issue
>> (file was not found, vs initramfs was not found).
>
> I have a system that works just fine without an initramfs, but now the
> kernel warns me about it:
>
> [    2.805602] check access for rdinit=/init failed: -2, ignoring
>
> I suppose that's unintended and the code here should actually check that
> there is an initrd at all before checking for the rdinit?

This isn't directly unintended. This message informs the user their
specified rdinit= binary was not able to run, regardless of the reason.

It would be good to check presence of initrd and print a more specific
message such as "rdinit=/init specified but no initrd present".

Kindly,
Lillian