Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 112623
fails attempting to find the root device
Last modified: 2007-04-18 13:00:48 EDT
Description of problem: kernel-2.6.0-1.21 is not able to find the root device "LABEL=/". mkinitrd is at version 3.5.16.1-1. Both kernel's initrd.img files look the same upon unpacking them, the same modules, etc. How reproducible: Always. Steps to Reproduce: 1. rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.0-1.21.i686.rpm 2. reboot 3. Actual results: Prints out the following (copied to paper from the screen): VFS: Mounted root (ext2 file system) Red Hat nash version 3.5.16.1 starting Loading jd.ko module Loading ext3.ko module Mounting /proc Mounting sysfs Creating block devices VFS: Cannot open root device "LABEL=/" or unknown-block(0,0) Please append a correct "root=" boot option Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0) Expected results: Should work as 2.6.0-0.1.14 and earlier ones did. Additional info: My /etc/grub.conf looks the following and the entry for 2.6.0-0.1.14 works fine: title Fedora Core (2.6.0-1.21) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.0-1.21 ro root=LABEL=/ acpi=on initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.0-1.21.img title Fedora Core (2.6.0-0.1.14) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.0-0.1.14 ro root=LABEL=/ acpi=on initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.0-0.1.14.img
Ok, downgraded mkinitrd to 3.5.15.1-2 and the kernel is able to boot normally. Seems like the problem would be the patch from Al Viro? (3.5.16 and up?) Changing component to mkinitrd.
*** Bug 112037 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I am seeing this with 2.6.0-1.107, mkinitrd-3.5.16.1-1. Seems to me that the cause is that the linuxrc script no longer mounts /proc (but mounts /sys instead), so the nash "mkdevices" fails (which needs /proc/partitions), so it all falls down. Maybe all this can be done via /sys, too, but nash does not know about it.
The same problem happens in kernel-2.6.0-1.23, mkinitrd-3.5.16.1-1. but The problem didn't happen in kernel-2.6.0-1.21, mkinitrd-23.5.16.1-1.
I don't have that problem with kernel-2.6.0-1.23 but my mkinitrd package is already downgraded to FC1's initial version.
sangu: verify install order with rpm -qa --last, I bet your kernel-2.6.0-1.21 was installed before mkinitrd-3.5.16.1-1. ralf: /proc is mounted as usual within linuxrc, you can verify it yourself by ungzipping the inird image and mounting it as -o loop somewhere. Yes, it looks like the problem would be within mkdevicesCommand() in nash.c.
Kaj J. Niemi : You're right. Thank your comments.
This will be fixed in 3.5.17 built against a newer dietlibc (dietlibc-0.24-1 had a slightly broken snprintf)