initrd image size of 3.1.0 kernel

initrd image size of 3.1.0 kernel

[Brad Tilley]

I built a vanilla stable kernel using the most recent 3.1.0 stable source.
I built it like this:

make silentoldconfig
make deb-pkg

The kernel boots and runs fine. However, the size (greater than 100 MB) of
the initrd image surprised me. Doing the same sort of build for a 3.0.x
kenerl produces a much smaller image:

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  12M Sep  6 11:57 initrd.img-3.0.4
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 107M Oct 26 08:03 initrd.img-3.1.0

I only want to point this out. Perhaps I missed something in the
documentation that explains the size difference, or something in my old
config or toolset caused it. Here are some versions installed on my
system:

gcc (Debian 4.4.5-8) 4.4.5
GNU Make 3.81
GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.20.1-system.20100303
fdformat (util-linux-ng 2.17.2)
module-init-tools 3.12
grub-install (GRUB) 1.98+20100804-14+squeeze1

I'm not subscribed, so please CC if you wish for me to see the replies or
if you would like more info.

If this larger size is normal (not an error on my part) then /boot sizes
will need to grow to accommodate this.

Brad

Re: initrd image size of 3.1.0 kernel

[Américo Wang]

On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 8:51 PM, Brad Tilley <brad@16systems.com> wrote:
> I built a vanilla stable kernel using the most recent 3.1.0 stable source.
> I built it like this:
>
> make silentoldconfig
> make deb-pkg
>
> The kernel boots and runs fine. However, the size (greater than 100 MB) of
> the initrd image surprised me. Doing the same sort of build for a 3.0.x
> kenerl produces a much smaller image:
>
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root  12M Sep  6 11:57 initrd.img-3.0.4
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root 107M Oct 26 08:03 initrd.img-3.1.0
>
> I only want to point this out. Perhaps I missed something in the
> documentation that explains the size difference, or something in my old
> config or toolset caused it.

Hi,

I am not a Debian user, so what is the 'mkinitrd' on Debian? The tool
to make the initrd image. I think it is its fault, rather than the kernel.
It is unlikely some kernel modules increases the size so much...

Thanks.

Re: initrd image size of 3.1.0 kernel

[Alessandro Suardi]

On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 2:51 PM, Brad Tilley <brad@16systems.com> wrote:
> I built a vanilla stable kernel using the most recent 3.1.0 stable source.
> I built it like this:
>
> make silentoldconfig
> make deb-pkg
>
> The kernel boots and runs fine. However, the size (greater than 100 MB) of
> the initrd image surprised me. Doing the same sort of build for a 3.0.x
> kenerl produces a much smaller image:
>
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root  12M Sep  6 11:57 initrd.img-3.0.4
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root 107M Oct 26 08:03 initrd.img-3.1.0
>
> I only want to point this out. Perhaps I missed something in the
> documentation that explains the size difference, or something in my old
> config or toolset caused it. Here are some versions installed on my
> system:
>
> gcc (Debian 4.4.5-8) 4.4.5
> GNU Make 3.81
> GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.20.1-system.20100303
> fdformat (util-linux-ng 2.17.2)
> module-init-tools 3.12
> grub-install (GRUB) 1.98+20100804-14+squeeze1
>
> I'm not subscribed, so please CC if you wish for me to see the replies or
> if you would like more info.
>
> If this larger size is normal (not an error on my part) then /boot sizes
> will need to grow to accommodate this.

Fedora 15 uses initramfs and doesn't show the issue:

[root@duff ~]# ls -ltr /boot/initramfs-*
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  8675175 Jul 22 13:13 /boot/initramfs-3.0.0.img
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  8747813 Aug  8 22:56 /boot/initramfs-3.1.0-rc1.img
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  8747318 Aug 13 19:40 /boot/initramfs-3.1.0-rc1-git7.img
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  8749876 Aug 30 11:09 /boot/initramfs-3.1.0-rc4-git1.img
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  8750005 Sep  2 10:48 /boot/initramfs-3.1.0-rc4-git2.img
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  8940095 Oct 26 11:26 /boot/initramfs-3.1.0.img

--alessandro

 "There's always a siren singing you to shipwreck"

   (Radiohead, "There There")