Re: FAQ: how to boot with root=LABEL=/

[Andreas Dilger]

On Dec 28, 2002  11:12 -0800, Dan Kegel wrote:
> I'm trying to configure a minimal 2.4.17 to boot
> on my redhat 8 box.  No modules, no sound, nothing fancy at all.
> 
> One problem I'm having is it only works if I boot with root=/dev/hda9
> instead of red hat's usual root=LABEL=/
> I thought I had configured in the proper partition support.
> 
> Can anyone point out what's missing from my .config (or from 2.4.17)
> to allow booting with root=LABEL=/ ?

You are missing a kernel patch.  The LABEL is a function of the filesystem
and not the partition, and the kernel doesn't check the filesystems for
labels...  One option is to just give the right device for root, another
is to add a patch (posted to l-k about 1.5 years ago) which added kernel
support for this, and a third is to add an initrd which figures out the
label in user space and uses that to mount the root fs.

Cheers, Andreas
--
Andreas Dilger
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2resize/
http://www-mddsp.enel.ucalgary.ca/People/adilger/