Re: How does boot loader pass initrd address / size to kernel?

[Thiemo Seufer <ths@networkno.de>]

Rajat Jain wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm running an ancient Linux kernel 2.4.20 (please don't ask me why
> :-( ) on a MIPS 4KEC. I am experimenting with initrd and my initrd
> fails to mount. My bootloader (U-BOOT) coorectly loads the initrd into
> RAM as I can see.
> 
> I am wondering how does the kernel get to know the address at which
> the initrd is loaded by boot loader? How does the boot loader
> communicate this to the kernel?
> 
> I can see that when emebedding root filesystem into kernel image, the
> symbols __rd_start and __rd_end are defined by the linker script and
> hence the kernel gets to know. However, how does this happen when
> bootloader loads the ramdisk and needs to tell the kernel?

http://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/Kernel_Command_Line_Arguments mentions
rd_start and rd_size which are used for this purpose.


Thiemo