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Asked: 2010-06-21 07:03:04 +0800 CST

Configure initramfs-tools to add curl to the initramfs, and run curl in a script at boot while in intitrd in Ubuntu 10.04 Server

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I'm trying to learn how the initramfs works and how it may be configured. I would like curl to be added to the packages available in the initramfs, and run a script which uses curl during boot (which means the network has to be set up, before it).

How should I do it? (I need it to work when upgrading my kernel too.)

linux ubuntu initramfs

2 Answers

  1. You need to edit your initramfs hooks. Create your own file like so:

    $ cat /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/curl
#!/bin/sh -e
PREREQS=""
case $1 in
        prereqs) echo "${PREREQS}"; exit 0;;
esac
. /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions
copy_exec /usr/bin/curl /bin

    Rebuild your initramfs:

    $ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.8.0-4-generic

    Check that it actually landed in there:

    $ lsinitramfs -l /boot/initrd.img-3.8.0-4-generic | grep curl
-rw-r--r--   1 root     root       385704 Nov 28 18:32 usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libcurl.so.4
-rwxr-xr-x   1 root     root       150344 Nov 28 18:32 bin/curl
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  2. First thing you wanna know is that Ubuntu is using a system called Upstart instead of the traditional init. The initial ramdisk is still used, but you'll be reconfiguring upstart instead of init.

    Second, are you wanting to do this entirely within the context of an initrd? If so, this would be much more complicated.

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