How do I make an installation initrd.img for a new kernel?

[Barry Scott]

Jay Cliburn wrote:
> Jay Cliburn wrote:
>> Barry Scott wrote:
>>> I need up update the network install for FC4 so that it
>>> supports new hardware (nVidia ethernet - forcedeth).
>>>
>>> The 2.6.17 kernel is fine in this case. But the initrd.gz that
>>> is installed in /boot is nothing like the images/pxeboot/initrd.img
>>> from the installation CD.
>>>
>>> I need to know how the images/pxeboot/initrd.img  was made
>>> so that I can make a new one for the 2.6.17 kernel.
>>>
>>> Can anyone point in the right direction?
>>
>> Don't know about the pxeboot initrd, but to roll your own initrd, 
>> first make sure you have a kernel/initrd combination that allows you 
>> to boot into the machine in case the following causes problems.
>>
>> Then save the existing initrd, and
>>
>> mkinitrd -f --preload=module1 --preload=module2 --preload=moduleN \
>> initrd-<kernelversion>.img <kernelversion>
>>
>> where <kernelversion> = `uname -r`
>
> I realized after hitting send that my final "where..." statement could 
> be misleading.  <kernelversion> should be what `uname -r` would return 
> on the target OS version, not necessarily the version you're running 
> at the time you issue mkinitrd.
>
All of this is in the man page. What I'm after is the script used to 
create the initrd.img that shipped on the FC4 CDROM
for network installation.

Remember that the boot process has to start up the anaconda installation 
process, not boot the system from disk,
which is what the output of mkinitrd will give you.

Barry