Bug 116327

Summary: RFE: better error message when init isn't found
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Reporter: Mike MacCana <mmaccana>
Component: kernelAssignee: dff <dff>
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG QA Contact: Brian Brock <bbrock>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 3.0CC: petrides, riel
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: FutureFeature
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Enhancement
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2004-04-22 14:37:21 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Mike MacCana 2004-02-20 02:42:16 UTC
Description of problem:   
When init isn't a found, the following message is produced: 
kernel panic: No init found.  Try passing init = option to kernel. 
 
In most cases, passing the 'init=' option to the kernel won't fix 
the problem, because its not just init missing, its the whole disk. 
I teach RHCEs for Red Hat and notice even experienced users can 
become confused by this message. 
 
How reproducible:   
Always   
   
Steps to Reproduce:   
1.Have a situation where the kernel cannot find init. 
     
Actual results:   
The user is asked to use the 'init=' option. It would be useful to 
suggest they check the bootloader and filesystem table as well, as 
problems here are often the source of this problem. 
   
Expected results:   
Something that indicated other likely sources of the problem. 
 
How does the following sound: 
 
kernel panic: Couldn't find init on the specified device. Try 
checking: 
* Bootloader configuration refers to the correct device. 
* The filesystem table (/etc/fstab) is correct 
* Filesystem labelling, if used, is correct 
* /sbin/init (or the file specified with 'init=' option) exists on 
the correct disk. 
 
Or maybe something better. Discuss :^).

Comment 1 Suzanne Hillman 2004-02-20 19:13:50 UTC
Internal RFE bug #116403 entered; will be considered for future releases.

Comment 2 Suzanne Hillman 2004-04-22 14:37:21 UTC
Thank you for the suggestion. It was passed along to product
management, but not committed for a future release.