Description of Problem: Kernel panics after upgrade to 2.4.18-5 from 2.4.18-4. How Reproducible: I haven't tried rpm -e the kernel and trying it again. Actual Results: The kernel paniced when it tried to pivot_root(/sysroot,/sysroot/initrd) Additional Information: The solution was to recreate the missing /initrd directory. rpm -V filesystem revealed it was missing from the original package. Somehow, the directory was deleted. If it wasn't for the above groups.google.com link, I wouldn't have known where to begin (though in hindsight the error message does make sense).
The /initrd directory is required; that's why it's part of the filesystem package.
You've seemed to miss my point! Upgrading seems to break the system badly. Does the kernel RPM mess around with /initrd directory? All I know is I upgraded, rebooted, and got a kernel panic (with all kernels 2.4.18-{3,4,5}).
No, the kernel upgrade does not touch the /initrd directory. Recent versions of mkinitrd make the directory when the initrd is made, but nothing that I can see removes it.