NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | USAGE | TROUBLESHOOTING | OPTIONS | ENVIRONMENT | FILES | AVAILABILITY | AUTHORS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

DRACUT(8)                          dracut                          DRACUT(8)

NAME         top

       dracut - low-level tool for generating an initramfs/initrd image

SYNOPSIS         top

       dracut [OPTION...] [<image> [<kernel version>]]

DESCRIPTION         top

       Create an initramfs <image> for the kernel with the version <kernel
       version>. If <kernel version> is omitted, then the version of the
       actual running kernel is used. If <image> is omitted or empty, then
       the default location /boot/initramfs-<kernel version>.img is used.
       dracut creates an initial image used by the kernel for preloading the
       block device modules (such as IDE, SCSI or RAID) which are needed to
       access the root filesystem, mounting the root filesystem and booting
       into the real system.
       At boot time, the kernel unpacks that archive into RAM disk, mounts
       and uses it as initial root file system. All finding of the root
       device happens in this early userspace.
       Initramfs images are also called "initrd".
       For a complete list of kernel command line options see
       dracut.cmdline(7).
       If you are dropped to an emergency shell, while booting your
       initramfs, the file /run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt is created, which
       can be saved to a (to be mounted by hand) partition (usually /boot)
       or a USB stick. Additional debugging info can be produced by adding
       rd.debug to the kernel command line. /run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt
       contains all logs and the output of some tools. It should be attached
       to any report about dracut problems.

USAGE         top

       To create a initramfs image, the most simple command is:
           # dracut
       This will generate a general purpose initramfs image, with all
       possible functionality resulting of the combination of the installed
       dracut modules and system tools. The image is /boot/initramfs-<kernel
       version>.img and contains the kernel modules of the currently active
       kernel with version <kernel version>.
       If the initramfs image already exists, dracut will display an error
       message, and to overwrite the existing image, you have to use the
       --force option.
           # dracut --force
       If you want to specify another filename for the resulting image you
       would issue a command like:
           # dracut foobar.img
       To generate an image for a specific kernel version, the command would
       be:
           # dracut foobar.img 2.6.40-1.rc5.f20
       A shortcut to generate the image at the default location for a
       specific kernel version is:
           # dracut --kver 2.6.40-1.rc5.f20
       If you want to create lighter, smaller initramfs images, you may want
       to specify the --hostonly or -H option. Using this option, the
       resulting image will contain only those dracut modules, kernel
       modules and filesystems, which are needed to boot this specific
       machine. This has the drawback, that you can’t put the disk on
       another controller or machine, and that you can’t switch to another
       root filesystem, without recreating the initramfs image. The usage of
       the --hostonly option is only for experts and you will have to keep
       the broken pieces. At least keep a copy of a general purpose image
       (and corresponding kernel) as a fallback to rescue your system.
   Inspecting the Contents
       To see the contents of the image created by dracut, you can use the
       lsinitrd tool.
           # lsinitrd | less
       To display the contents of a file in the initramfs also use the
       lsinitrd tool:
           # lsinitrd -f /etc/ld.so.conf
           include ld.so.conf.d/*.conf
   Adding dracut Modules
       Some dracut modules are turned off by default and have to be
       activated manually. You can do this by adding the dracut modules to
       the configuration file /etc/dracut.conf or
       /etc/dracut.conf.d/myconf.conf. See dracut.conf(5). You can also add
       dracut modules on the command line by using the -a or --add option:
           # dracut --add bootchart initramfs-bootchart.img
       To see a list of available dracut modules, use the --list-modules
       option:
           # dracut --list-modules
   Omitting dracut Modules
       Sometimes you don’t want a dracut module to be included for reasons
       of speed, size or functionality. To do this, either specify the
       omit_dracutmodules variable in the dracut.conf or
       /etc/dracut.conf.d/myconf.conf configuration file (see
       dracut.conf(5)), or use the -o or --omit option on the command line:
           # dracut -o "multipath lvm" no-multipath-lvm.img
   Adding Kernel Modules
       If you need a special kernel module in the initramfs, which is not
       automatically picked up by dracut, you have the use the --add-drivers
       option on the command line or the drivers vaiable in the
       /etc/dracut.conf or /etc/dracut.conf.d/myconf.conf configuration file
       (see dracut.conf(5)):
           # dracut --add-drivers mymod initramfs-with-mymod.img
   Boot parameters
       An initramfs generated without the "hostonly" mode, does not contain
       any system configuration files (except for some special exceptions),
       so the configuration has to be done on the kernel command line. With
       this flexibility, you can easily boot from a changed root partition,
       without the need to recompile the initramfs image. So, you could
       completly change your root partition (move it inside a md raid with
       encryption and LVM on top), as long as you specify the correct
       filesystem LABEL or UUID on the kernel command line for your root
       device, dracut will find it and boot from it.
       The kernel command line can also be provided by the dhcp server with
       the root-path option. See the section called “Network Boot”.
       For a full reference of all kernel command line parameters, see
       dracut.cmdline(5).
       To get a quick start for the suitable kernel command line on your
       system, use the --print-cmdline option:
           # dracut --print-cmdline
            root=UUID=8b8b6f91-95c7-4da2-831b-171e12179081 rootflags=rw,relatime,discard,data=ordered rootfstype=ext4
       Specifying the root Device
           This is the only option dracut really needs to boot from your
           root partition. Because your root partition can live in various
           environments, there are a lot of formats for the root= option.
           The most basic one is root=<path to device node>:
               root=/dev/sda2
           Because device node names can change, dependent on the drive
           ordering, you are encouraged to use the filesystem identifier
           (UUID) or filesystem label (LABEL) to specify your root
           partition:
               root=UUID=19e9dda3-5a38-484d-a9b0-fa6b067d0331
           or
               root=LABEL=myrootpartitionlabel
           To see all UUIDs or LABELs on your system, do:
               # ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid
           or
               # ls -l /dev/disk/by-label
           If your root partition is on the network see the section called
           “Network Boot”.
       Keyboard Settings
           If you have to input passwords for encrypted disk volumes, you
           might want to set the keyboard layout and specify a display font.
           A typical german kernel command would contain:
               rd.vconsole.font=latarcyrheb-sun16 rd.vconsole.keymap=de-latin1-nodeadkeys rd.locale.LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
           Setting these options can override the setting stored on your
           system, if you use a modern init system, like systemd.
       Blacklisting Kernel Modules
           Sometimes it is required to prevent the automatic kernel module
           loading of a specific kernel module. To do this, just add
           rd.blacklist=<kernel module name>, with <kernel module name> not
           containing the .ko suffix, to the kernel command line. For
           example:
               rd.driver.blacklist=mptsas rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau
           The option can be specified multiple times on the kernel command
           line.
       Speeding up the Boot Process
           If you want to speed up the boot process, you can specify as much
           information for dracut on the kernel command as possible. For
           example, you can tell dracut, that you root partition is not on a
           LVM volume or not on a raid partition, or that it lives inside a
           specific crypto LUKS encrypted volume. By default, dracut
           searches everywhere. A typical dracut kernel command line for a
           plain primary or logical partition would contain:
               rd.luks=0 rd.lvm=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0
           This turns off every automatic assembly of LVM, MD raids, DM
           raids and crypto LUKS.
           Of course, you could also omit the dracut modules in the
           initramfs creation process, but then you would lose the
           posibility to turn it on on demand.
   Injecting custom Files
       To add your own files to the initramfs image, you have several
       possibilities.
       The --include option let you specify a source path and a target path.
       For example
           # dracut --include cmdline-preset /etc/cmdline.d/mycmdline.conf initramfs-cmdline-pre.img
       will create an initramfs image, where the file cmdline-preset will be
       copied inside the initramfs to /etc/cmdline.d/mycmdline.conf.
       --include can only be specified once.
           # mkdir -p rd.live.overlay/etc/cmdline.d
           # mkdir -p rd.live.overlay/etc/conf.d
           # echo "ip=dhcp" >> rd.live.overlay/etc/cmdline.d/mycmdline.conf
           # echo export FOO=testtest >> rd.live.overlay/etc/conf.d/testvar.conf
           # echo export BAR=testtest >> rd.live.overlay/etc/conf.d/testvar.conf
           # tree rd.live.overlay/
           rd.live.overlay/
           `-- etc
               |-- cmdline.d
               |   `-- mycmdline.conf
               `-- conf.d
                   `-- testvar.conf
           # dracut --include rd.live.overlay / initramfs-rd.live.overlay.img
       This will put the contents of the rd.live.overlay directory into the
       root of the initramfs image.
       The --install option let you specify several files, which will get
       installed in the initramfs image at the same location, as they are
       present on initramfs creation time.
           # dracut --install 'strace fsck.ext3 ssh' initramfs-dbg.img
       This will create an initramfs with the strace, fsck.ext3 and ssh
       executables, together with the libraries needed to start those. The
       --install option can be specified multiple times.
   Network Boot
       If your root partition is on a network drive, you have to have the
       network dracut modules installed to create a network aware initramfs
       image.
       If you specify ip=dhcp on the kernel command line, then dracut asks a
       dhcp server about the ip adress for the machine. The dhcp server can
       also serve an additional root-path, which will set the root device
       for dracut. With this mechanism, you have static configuration on
       your client machine and a centralized boot configuration on your
       TFTP/DHCP server. If you can’t pass a kernel command line, then you
       can inject /etc/cmdline.d/mycmdline.conf, with a method described in
       the section called “Injecting custom Files”.
       Reducing the Image Size
           To reduce the size of the initramfs, you should create it with by
           ommitting all dracut modules, which you know, you don’t need to
           boot the machine.
           You can also specify the exact dracut and kernel modules to
           produce a very tiny initramfs image.
           For example for a NFS image, you would do:
               # dracut -m "nfs network  base" initramfs-nfs-only.img
           Then you would boot from this image with your target machine and
           reduce the size once more by creating it on the target machine
           with the --host-only option:
               # dracut -m "nfs network base" --host-only initramfs-nfs-host-only.img
           This will reduce the size of the initramfs image significantly.

TROUBLESHOOTING         top

       If the boot process does not succeed, you have several options to
       debug the situation. Some of the basic operations are covered here.
       For more information you should also visit:
       https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/dracut/dracut.html 
   Identifying your problem area
        1. Remove 'rhgb' and 'quiet' from the kernel command line
        2. Add 'rd.shell' to the kernel command line. This will present a
           shell should dracut be unable to locate your root device
        3. Add 'rd.shell rd.debug log_buf_len=1M' to the kernel command line
           so that dracut shell commands are printed as they are executed
        4. The file /run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt is generated, which
           contains all the logs and the output of all significant tools,
           which are mentioned later.
       If you want to save that output, simply mount /boot by hand or insert
       an USB stick and mount that. Then you can store the output for later
       inspection.
   Information to include in your report
       All bug reports
           In all cases, the following should be mentioned and attached to
           your bug report:
           ·   The exact kernel command-line used. Typically from the
               bootloader configuration file (e.g.  /boot/grub2/grub.cfg) or
               from /proc/cmdline.
           ·   A copy of your disk partition information from /etc/fstab,
               which might be obtained booting an old working initramfs or a
               rescue medium.
           ·   Turn on dracut debugging (see the debugging dracut section),
               and attach the file /run/initramfs/rdsosreport.txt.
           ·   If you use a dracut configuration file, please include
               /etc/dracut.conf and all files in /etc/dracut.conf.d/*.conf
       Network root device related problems
           This section details information to include when experiencing
           problems on a system whose root device is located on a network
           attached volume (e.g. iSCSI, NFS or NBD). As well as the
           information from the section called “All bug reports”, include
           the following information:
           ·   Please include the output of
                   # /sbin/ifup <interfacename>
                   # ip addr show
   Debugging dracut
       Configure a serial console
           Successfully debugging dracut will require some form of console
           logging during the system boot. This section documents
           configuring a serial console connection to record boot messages.
            1. First, enable serial console output for both the kernel and
               the bootloader.
            2. Open the file /boot/grub2/grub.cfg for editing. Below the
               line 'timeout=5', add the following:
                   serial --unit=0 --speed=9600
                   terminal --timeout=5 serial console
            3. Also in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg, add the following boot
               arguemnts to the 'kernel' line:
                   console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600
            4. When finished, the /boot/grub2/grub.cfg file should look
               similar to the example below.
                   default=0
                   timeout=5
                   serial --unit=0 --speed=9600
                   terminal --timeout=5 serial console
                   title Fedora (2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64)
                     root (hd0,0)
                     kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_uc1-lv_root console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600
                     initrd /dracut-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64.img
            5. More detailed information on how to configure the kernel for
               console output can be found at
               http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO.html#CONFIGURE-KERNEL .
            6. Redirecting non-interactive output
                   Note
                   You can redirect all non-interactive output to /dev/kmsg
                   and the kernel will put it out on the console when it
                   reaches the kernel buffer by doing
                   # exec >/dev/kmsg 2>&1 </dev/console
       Using the dracut shell
           dracut offers a shell for interactive debugging in the event
           dracut fails to locate your root filesystem. To enable the shell:
            1. Add the boot parameter 'rd.shell' to your bootloader
               configuration file (e.g.  /boot/grub2/grub.cfg)
            2. Remove the boot arguments 'rhgb' and 'quiet'
               A sample /boot/grub2/grub.cfg bootloader configuration file
               is listed below.
                   default=0
                   timeout=5
                   serial --unit=0 --speed=9600
                   terminal --timeout=5 serial console
                   title Fedora (2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64)
                     root (hd0,0)
                     kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_uc1-lv_root console=tty0 rd.shell
                     initrd /dracut-2.6.29.5-191.fc11.x86_64.img
            3. If system boot fails, you will be dropped into a shell as
               seen in the example below.
                   No root device found
                   Dropping to debug shell.
                   #
            4. Use this shell prompt to gather the information requested
               above (see the section called “All bug reports”).
       Accessing the root volume from the dracut shell
           From the dracut debug shell, you can manually perform the task of
           locating and preparing your root volume for boot. The required
           steps will depend on how your root volume is configured. Common
           scenarios include:
           ·   A block device (e.g.  /dev/sda7)
           ·   A LVM logical volume (e.g.  /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00)
           ·   An encrypted device (e.g.
               /dev/mapper/luks-4d5972ea-901c-4584-bd75-1da802417d83)
           ·   A network attached device (e.g.
               netroot=iscsi:@192.168.0.4::3260::iqn.2009-02.org.example:for.all)
           The exact method for locating and preparing will vary. However,
           to continue with a successful boot, the objective is to locate
           your root volume and create a symlink /dev/root which points to
           the file system. For example, the following example demonstrates
           accessing and booting a root volume that is an encrypted LVM
           Logical volume.
            1. Inspect your partitions using parted
                   # parted /dev/sda -s p
                   Model: ATA HTS541060G9AT00 (scsi)
                   Disk /dev/sda: 60.0GB
                   Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
                   Partition Table: msdos
                   Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
                   1      32.3kB  10.8GB  107MB   primary   ext4         boot
                   2      10.8GB  55.6GB  44.7GB  logical                lvm
            2. You recall that your root volume was a LVM logical volume.
               Scan and activate any logical volumes.
                   # lvm vgscan
                   # lvm vgchange -ay
            3. You should see any logical volumes now using the command
               blkid:
                   # blkid
                   /dev/sda1: UUID="3de247f3-5de4-4a44-afc5-1fe179750cf7" TYPE="ext4"
                   /dev/sda2: UUID="Ek4dQw-cOtq-5MJu-OGRF-xz5k-O2l8-wdDj0I" TYPE="LVM2_member"
                   /dev/mapper/linux-root: UUID="def0269e-424b-4752-acf3-1077bf96ad2c" TYPE="crypto_LUKS"
                   /dev/mapper/linux-home: UUID="c69127c1-f153-4ea2-b58e-4cbfa9257c5e" TYPE="ext3"
                   /dev/mapper/linux-swap: UUID="47b4d329-975c-4c08-b218-f9c9bf3635f1" TYPE="swap"
            4. From the output above, you recall that your root volume
               exists on an encrypted block device. Following the guidance
               disk encryption guidance from the Installation Guide, you
               unlock your encrypted root volume.
                   # UUID=$(cryptsetup luksUUID /dev/mapper/linux-root)
                   # cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/mapper/linux-root luks-$UUID
                   Enter passphrase for /dev/mapper/linux-root:
                   Key slot 0 unlocked.
            5. Next, make a symbolic link to the unlocked root volume
                   # ln -s /dev/mapper/luks-$UUID /dev/root
            6. With the root volume available, you may continue booting the
               system by exiting the dracut shell
                   # exit
       Additional dracut boot parameters
           For more debugging options, see dracut.cmdline(7).
       Debugging dracut on shutdown
           To debug the shutdown sequence on systemd systems, you can
           rd.break on pre-shutdown or shutdown.
           To do this from an already booted system:
               # mkdir -p /run/initramfs/etc/cmdline.d
               # echo "rd.debug rd.break=pre-shutdown rd.break=shutdown" > /run/initramfs/etc/cmdline.d/debug.conf
               # touch /run/initramfs/.need_shutdown
           This will give you a dracut shell after the system pivot’ed back
           in the initramfs.

OPTIONS         top

       --kver <kernel version>
           set the kernel version. This enables to specify the kernel
           version, without specifying the location of the initramfs image.
           For example:
           # dracut --kver 3.5.0-0.rc7.git1.2.fc18.x86_64
       -f, --force
           overwrite existing initramfs file.
       -a, --add <list of dracut modules>
           add a space-separated list of dracut modules to the default set
           of modules. This parameter can be specified multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --add "module1 module2"  ...
       --force-add <list of dracut modules>
           force to add a space-separated list of dracut modules to the
           default set of modules, when -H is specified. This parameter can
           be specified multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --force-add "module1 module2"  ...
       -o, --omit <list of dracut modules>
           omit a space-separated list of dracut modules. This parameter can
           be specified multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --omit "module1 module2"  ...
       -m, --modules <list of dracut modules>
           specify a space-separated list of dracut modules to call when
           building the initramfs. Modules are located in
           /usr/lib/dracut/modules.d. This parameter can be specified
           multiple times. This option forces dracut to only include the
           specified dracut modules. In most cases the "--add" option is
           what you want to use.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --modules "module1 module2"  ...
       -d, --drivers <list of kernel modules>
           specify a space-separated list of kernel modules to exclusively
           include in the initramfs. The kernel modules have to be specified
           without the ".ko" suffix. This parameter can be specified
           multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --drivers "kmodule1 kmodule2"  ...
       --add-drivers <list of kernel modules>
           specify a space-separated list of kernel modules to add to the
           initramfs. The kernel modules have to be specified without the
           ".ko" suffix. This parameter can be specified multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --add-drivers "kmodule1 kmodule2"  ...
       --force-drivers <list of kernel modules>
           See add-drivers above. But in this case it is ensured that the
           drivers are tried to be loaded early via modprobe.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --force-drivers "kmodule1 kmodule2"  ...
       --omit-drivers <list of kernel modules>
           specify a space-separated list of kernel modules not to add to
           the initramfs. The kernel modules have to be specified without
           the ".ko" suffix. This parameter can be specified multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --omit-drivers "kmodule1 kmodule2"  ...
       --filesystems <list of filesystems>
           specify a space-separated list of kernel filesystem modules to
           exclusively include in the generic initramfs. This parameter can
           be specified multiple times.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --filesystems "filesystem1 filesystem2"  ...
       -k, --kmoddir <kernel directory>
           specify the directory, where to look for kernel modules
       --fwdir <dir>[:<dir>...]++
           specify additional directories, where to look for firmwares. This
           parameter can be specified multiple times.
       --kernel-cmdline <parameters>
           specify default kernel command line parameters
       --kernel-only
           only install kernel drivers and firmware files
       --no-kernel
           do not install kernel drivers and firmware files
       --early-microcode
           Combine early microcode with ramdisk
       --no-early-microcode
           Do not combine early microcode with ramdisk
       --print-cmdline
           print the kernel command line for the current disk layout
       --mdadmconf
           include local /etc/mdadm.conf
       --nomdadmconf
           do not include local /etc/mdadm.conf
       --lvmconf
           include local /etc/lvm/lvm.conf
       --nolvmconf
           do not include local /etc/lvm/lvm.conf
       --fscks [LIST]
           add a space-separated list of fsck tools, in addition to
           dracut.conf's specification; the installation is opportunistic
           (non-existing tools are ignored)
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --fscks "fsck.foo barfsck"  ...
       --nofscks
           inhibit installation of any fsck tools
       --strip
           strip binaries in the initramfs (default)
       --nostrip
           do not strip binaries in the initramfs
       --prelink
           prelink binaries in the initramfs (default)
       --noprelink
           do not prelink binaries in the initramfs
       --hardlink
           hardlink files in the initramfs (default)
       --nohardlink
           do not hardlink files in the initramfs
       --prefix <dir>
           prefix initramfs files with the specified directory
       --noprefix
           do not prefix initramfs files (default)
       -h, --help
           display help text and exit.
       --debug
           output debug information of the build process
       -v, --verbose
           increase verbosity level (default is info(4))
       -q, --quiet
           decrease verbosity level (default is info(4))
       -c, --conf <dracut configuration file>
           specify configuration file to use.
           Default: /etc/dracut.conf
       --confdir <configuration directory>
           specify configuration directory to use.
           Default: /etc/dracut.conf.d
       --tmpdir <temporary directory>
           specify temporary directory to use.
           Default: /var/tmp
       --sshkey <sshkey file>
           ssh key file used with ssh-client module.
       --logfile <logfile>
           logfile to use; overrides any setting from the configuration
           files.
           Default: /var/log/dracut.log
       -l, --local
           activates the local mode. dracut will use modules from the
           current working directory instead of the system-wide installed
           modules in /usr/lib/dracut/modules.d. This is useful when running
           dracut from a git checkout.
       -H, --hostonly
           Host-Only mode: Install only what is needed for booting the local
           host instead of a generic host and generate host-specific
           configuration.
               Warning
               If chrooted to another root other than the real root device,
               use "--fstab" and provide a valid /etc/fstab.
       -N, --no-hostonly
           Disable Host-Only mode
       --hostonly-cmdline: Store kernel command line arguments needed in the
       initramfs
       --no-hostonly-cmdline: Do not store kernel command line arguments
       needed in the initramfs
       --hostonly-i18n: Install only needed keyboard and font files
       according to the host configuration (default).
       --no-hostonly-i18n: Install all keyboard and font files available.
       --persistent-policy <policy>
           Use <policy> to address disks and partitions.  <policy> can be
           any directory name found in /dev/disk. E.g. "by-uuid", "by-label"
       --fstab
           Use /etc/fstab instead of /proc/self/mountinfo.
       --add-fstab <filename>
           Add entries of <filename> to the initramfs /etc/fstab.
       --mount "<device> <mountpoint> <filesystem type> [<filesystem
       options> [<dump frequency> [<fsck order>]]]"
           Mount <device> on <mountpoint> with <filesystem type> in the
           initramfs.  <filesystem options>, <dump options> and <fsck order>
           can be specified, see fstab manpage for the details. The default
           <filesystem options> is "defaults". The default <dump frequency>
           is "0". the default <fsck order> is "2".
       --mount "<mountpoint>"
           Like above, but <device>, <filesystem type> and <filesystem
           options> are determined by looking at the current mounts.
       --add-device <device>
           Bring up <device> in initramfs, <device> should be the device
           name. This can be useful in hostonly mode for resume support when
           your swap is on LVM or an encrypted partition. [NB --device can
           be used for compatibility with earlier releases]
       -i, --include <SOURCE> <TARGET>
           include the files in the SOURCE directory into the TARGET
           directory in the final initramfs. If SOURCE is a file, it will be
           installed to TARGET in the final initramfs. This parameter can be
           specified multiple times.
       -I, --install <file list>
           install the space separated list of files into the initramfs.
               Note
               If [LIST] has multiple arguments, then you have to put these
               in quotes. For example:
                   # dracut --install "/bin/foo /sbin/bar"  ...
       --install-optional <file list>
           install the space separated list of files into the initramfs, if
           they exist.
       --gzip
           Compress the generated initramfs using gzip. This will be done by
           default, unless another compression option or --no-compress is
           passed. Equivalent to "--compress=gzip -9"
       --bzip2
           Compress the generated initramfs using bzip2.
               Warning
               Make sure your kernel has bzip2 decompression support
               compiled in, otherwise you will not be able to boot.
               Equivalent to "--compress=bzip2"
       --lzma
           Compress the generated initramfs using lzma.
               Warning
               Make sure your kernel has lzma decompression support compiled
               in, otherwise you will not be able to boot. Equivalent to
               "lzma --compress=lzma -9"
       --xz
           Compress the generated initramfs using xz.
               Warning
               Make sure your kernel has xz decompression support compiled
               in, otherwise you will not be able to boot. Equivalent to
               "lzma --compress=xz --check=crc32 --lzma2=dict=1MiB"
       --lzo
           Compress the generated initramfs using lzop.
           Warning
           Make sure your kernel has lzo decompression support compiled in,
           otherwise you will not be able to boot.
       --lz4
           Compress the generated initramfs using lz4.
           Warning
           Make sure your kernel has lz4 decompression support compiled in,
           otherwise you will not be able to boot.
       --compress <compressor>
           Compress the generated initramfs using the passed compression
           program. If you pass it just the name of a compression program,
           it will call that program with known-working arguments. If you
           pass a quoted string with arguments, it will be called with
           exactly those arguments. Depending on what you pass, this may
           result in an initramfs that the kernel cannot decompress. The
           default value can also be set via the INITRD_COMPRESS environment
           variable.
       --no-compress
           Do not compress the generated initramfs. This will override any
           other compression options.
       --reproducible
           Create reproducible images.
       --no-reproducible
           Do not create reproducible images.
       --list-modules
           List all available dracut modules.
       -M, --show-modules
           Print included module’s name to standard output during build.
       --keep
           Keep the initramfs temporary directory for debugging purposes.
       --printsize
           Print out the module install size
       --profile: Output profile information of the build process
       --ro-mnt: Mount / and /usr read-only by default.
       -L, --stdlog <level>
           [0-6] Specify logging level (to standard error)
                     0 - suppress any messages
                     1 - only fatal errors
                     2 - all errors
                     3 - warnings
                     4 - info
                     5 - debug info (here starts lots of output)
                     6 - trace info (and even more)
       --regenerate-all
           Regenerate all initramfs images at the default location with the
           kernel versions found on the system. Additional parameters are
           passed through.
       --loginstall <DIR>
           Log all files installed from the host to <DIR>.
       --uefi
           Instead of creating an initramfs image, dracut will create an
           UEFI executable, which can be executed by an UEFI BIOS. The
           default output filename is
           <EFI>/EFI/Linux/linux-$kernel$-<MACHINE_ID>-<BUILD_ID>.efi. <EFI>
           might be /efi, /boot or /boot/efi depending on where the ESP
           partition is mounted. The <BUILD_ID> is taken from BUILD_ID in
           /usr/lib/os-release or if it exists /etc/os-release and is left
           out, if BUILD_ID is non-existant or empty.
       --no-machineid
           affects the default output filename of --uefi and will discard
           the <MACHINE_ID> part.
       --uefi-stub <FILE>
           Specifies the UEFI stub loader, which will load the attached
           kernel, initramfs and kernel command line and boots the kernel.
           The default is
           $prefix/lib/systemd/boot/efi/linux<EFI-MACHINE-TYPE-NAME>.efi.stub
           or $prefix/lib/gummiboot/linux<EFI-MACHINE-TYPE-NAME>.efi.stub
       --kernel-image <FILE>
           Specifies the kernel image, which to include in the UEFI
           executable. The default is /lib/modules/<KERNEL-VERSION>/vmlinuz
           or /boot/vmlinuz-<KERNEL-VERSION>

ENVIRONMENT         top

       INITRD_COMPRESS
           sets the default compression program. See --compress.

FILES         top

       /var/log/dracut.log
           logfile of initramfs image creation
       /tmp/dracut.log
           logfile of initramfs image creation, if /var/log/dracut.log is
           not writable
       /etc/dracut.conf
           see dracut.conf5
       /etc/dracut.conf.d/*.conf
           see dracut.conf5
       /usr/lib/dracut/dracut.conf.d/*.conf
           see dracut.conf5
   Configuration in the initramfs
       /etc/conf.d/
           Any files found in /etc/conf.d/ will be sourced in the initramfs
           to set initial values. Command line options will override these
           values set in the configuration files.
       /etc/cmdline
           Can contain additional command line options. Deprecated, better
           use /etc/cmdline.d/*.conf.
       /etc/cmdline.d/*.conf
           Can contain additional command line options.

AVAILABILITY         top

       The dracut command is part of the dracut package and is available
       from https://dracut.wiki.kernel.org 

AUTHORS         top

       Harald Hoyer
       Victor Lowther
       Philippe Seewer
       Warren Togami
       Amadeusz Żołnowski
       Jeremy Katz
       David Dillow
       Will Woods

SEE ALSO         top

       dracut.cmdline(7) dracut.conf(5) lsinitrd(1)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the dracut (event driven initramfs
       infrastructure) project.  Information about the project can be found
       at ⟨https://dracut.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page⟩.  If you have
       a bug report for this manual page, send it to
       initramfs@vger.kernel.org.  This page was obtained from the project's
       upstream Git repository 
       ⟨git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/boot/dracut/dracut.git⟩ on 2017-07-05.
       If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the
       page, or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
       the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information
       in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page),
       send a mail to man-pages@man7.org
dracut                           04/24/2017                        DRACUT(8)

Pages that refer to this page: lsinitrd(1)dracut.conf(5)bootup(7)dracut.bootup(7)dracut.cmdline(7)dracut.modules(7)dracut-catimages(8)mkinitrd(8)mkinitrd-suse(8)systemtap(8)