[SLL] booting a new kernel - unable to mount root fs

[Mathew D. Watson]

Jarod Wilson wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-02-04 at 08:34 -0800, Mathew D. Watson wrote:
>> The last several lines of /boot/grub/menu.lst are as follows.
>>
>> ### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
>> title		linux-test
>> root		(hd0,0)
>> uuid		7882317c-a329-41cb-b59d-f7a7d0212c0c
>> kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-test root=UUID=7882317c-a329-41cb-b59d-f7a7d0212c0c ro
> 
> ^^^ no initrd ^^^
> 
>> For reference:
>> The following entry from /boot/menu.lst boots the stock kernel.
>>
>> title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic
>> uuid		7882317c-a329-41cb-b59d-f7a7d0212c0c
>> kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=7882317c-a329-41cb-b59
>> d-f7a7d0212c0c ro quiet splash
>> initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic
>> quiet
> 
> ^^^ has initrd ^^^
>  
> Did you build your file system driver into the kernel, or is it built as
> a module? If its a module, you *need* an initrd to house the module so
> that it can be loaded so that the kernel knows how to handle your root
> file system properly.
> 

Thanks Jarod.

I wish I knew whether or not the file system driver is built in, but I 
don't. I accidentally blew away the .config file (and the rest of the 
kernel source) while learning about GRUB.

When I built the kernel, I used "make oldconfig" after copying the 
distribution kernel's configuration file into my kernel source 
directory. Given that the stock kernel boot entry has an initrd, I 
suspect the stock kernel (and mine by copying the config file) load the 
file system as a module.

Oh well. I guess it's time to clean up and start again fresh.

Thanks for the help.

Mat