Bug#361074: [Yaird-devel] Bug#361074: yaird: kernel panic after changeing sata controller

[Jonas Smedegaard]

On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 14:29:49 +0200 Emil Nowak wrote:

> I had all my sata disk connected to silicon image controler (on PCI).
> Today I have upgraded my mainboard to Gigabyte (which has sata_via
> controller). I would like to use the built-in controller instead of
> external one on pci.
> 
> Just after connecting disk to built-in via controller I have kernel
> panic because there is no sta_via.ko module in intrd. 
> 
> Regenereating initrd doesn't help here.
> 
> What is the best way to do mainboard-upgrades with generic kerneles
> and initrd.


Well, "best" depends on your goal.

The design of yaird is to create "working ramdisks only", based on your
current hardware - it refuses to build ramdisks suspectedly not working
(eg. when upgrading kernel and the new kernel lack a required driver).

As Max indirectly suggest, you could also switch from yaird to
initramfs-tools, the alternative ramdisk generator he is maintaining.
The design of initramfs-tools is to create "general mostly working
ramdisks", inspired by your current hardware - it relies on udev to
figure out the hardware needed.


> What are advantages for using generic-kernles if they always fail
> after hrdware upgrade?

None of the ramdisk generators in Debian do *always* fail after
hardware upgrade.

If you want plug'n'pray where you usually don't need to plan ahead,
then use inintramfs-tools.

If you like the yaird design goal, then you need to prepare when
switching your setup: Each ramdisk image is optimized for a specific
setup, so you need to somehow generate an image _after_ changing setup
but _before_ booting into it.

If all you need is to load that different driver, then
edit /etc/yaird/Default.conf and add "MODULE sta_via" and regenerate.

But if your rootfs is not virtualized (through raid, lvm or other
means) it probably changes as well (from /dev/hdXX to /dev/sdXX) and
you need to boot the new hardware setup through an external media
(debian-installer testing images should do), chroot into your system
and regenerate.


Leaving this bug open, as it is uncertain if yaird completely fails to
detect this VIA-based hardware correctly...

 - Jonas

-- 
* Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
* Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 - Enden er nær: http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm
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