init/main.c: improve usability in case of init binary failure

- new Documentation/init.txt file describing various forms of failure trying to load the init binary after kernel bootup - extend the init/main.c init failure message to direct to Documentation/init.txt Signed-off-by: Andreas Mohr <andi@lisas.de> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

init/main.c: improve usability in case of init binary failure
- new Documentation/init.txt file describing various forms of failure trying to load the init binary after kernel bootup - extend the init/main.c init failure message to direct to Documentation/init.txt Signed-off-by: Andreas Mohr <andi@lisas.de> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Andreas Mohr · Linus Torvalds
1 parent 87d5e0236d
Showing 2 changed files with 51 additions and 1 deletions Side-by-side Diff
Documentation/init.txt
init/main.c
+Explaining the dreaded "No init found." boot hang message
+=========================================================
+
+OK, so you've got this pretty unintuitive message (currently located
+in init/main.c) and are wondering what the H*** went wrong.
+Some high-level reasons for failure (listed roughly in order of execution)
+to load the init binary are:
+A) Unable to mount root FS
+B) init binary doesn't exist on rootfs
+C) broken console device
+D) binary exists but dependencies not available
+E) binary cannot be loaded
+
+Detailed explanations:
+0) Set "debug" kernel parameter (in bootloader config file or CONFIG_CMDLINE)
+   to get more detailed kernel messages.
+A) make sure you have the correct root FS type
+   (and root= kernel parameter points to the correct partition),
+   required drivers such as storage hardware (such as SCSI or USB!)
+   and filesystem (ext3, jffs2 etc.) are builtin (alternatively as modules,
+   to be pre-loaded by an initrd)
+C) Possibly a conflict in console= setup --> initial console unavailable.
+   E.g. some serial consoles are unreliable due to serial IRQ issues (e.g.
+   missing interrupt-based configuration).
+   Try using a different console= device or e.g. netconsole= .
+D) e.g. required library dependencies of the init binary such as
+   /lib/ld-linux.so.2 missing or broken. Use readelf -d <INIT>|grep NEEDED
+   to find out which libraries are required.
+E) make sure the binary's architecture matches your hardware.
+   E.g. i386 vs. x86_64 mismatch, or trying to load x86 on ARM hardware.
+   In case you tried loading a non-binary file here (shell script?),
+   you should make sure that the script specifies an interpreter in its shebang
+   header line (#!/...) that is fully working (including its library
+   dependencies). And before tackling scripts, better first test a simple
+   non-script binary such as /bin/sh and confirm its successful execution.
+   To find out more, add code to init/main.c to display kernel_execve()s
+   return values.
+
+Please extend this explanation whenever you find new failure causes
+(after all loading the init binary is a CRITICAL and hard transition step
+which needs to be made as painless as possible), then submit patch to LKML.
+Further TODOs:
+- Implement the various run_init_process() invocations via a struct array
+  which can then store the kernel_execve() result value and on failure
+  log it all by iterating over _all_ results (very important usability fix).
+- try to make the implementation itself more helpful in general,
+  e.g. by providing additional error messages at affected places.
+
+Andreas Mohr <andi at lisas period de>
@@ -847,7 +847,8 @@
 	run_init_process("/bin/init");
 	run_init_process("/bin/sh");
  
-	panic("No init found.  Try passing init= option to kernel.");
+	panic("No init found.  Try passing init= option to kernel. "
+	      "See Linux Documentation/init.txt for guidance.");
 }
  
 static int __init kernel_init(void * unused)
	1	+Explaining the dreaded "No init found." boot hang message
	2	+=========================================================
	3	+
	4	+OK, so you've got this pretty unintuitive message (currently located
	5	+in init/main.c) and are wondering what the H*** went wrong.
	6	+Some high-level reasons for failure (listed roughly in order of execution)
	7	+to load the init binary are:
	8	+A) Unable to mount root FS
	9	+B) init binary doesn't exist on rootfs
	10	+C) broken console device
	11	+D) binary exists but dependencies not available
	12	+E) binary cannot be loaded
	13	+
	14	+Detailed explanations:
	15	+0) Set "debug" kernel parameter (in bootloader config file or CONFIG_CMDLINE)
	16	+ to get more detailed kernel messages.
	17	+A) make sure you have the correct root FS type
	18	+ (and root= kernel parameter points to the correct partition),
	19	+ required drivers such as storage hardware (such as SCSI or USB!)
	20	+ and filesystem (ext3, jffs2 etc.) are builtin (alternatively as modules,
	21	+ to be pre-loaded by an initrd)
	22	+C) Possibly a conflict in console= setup --> initial console unavailable.
	23	+ E.g. some serial consoles are unreliable due to serial IRQ issues (e.g.
	24	+ missing interrupt-based configuration).
	25	+ Try using a different console= device or e.g. netconsole= .
	26	+D) e.g. required library dependencies of the init binary such as
	27	+ /lib/ld-linux.so.2 missing or broken. Use readelf -d <INIT>\|grep NEEDED
	28	+ to find out which libraries are required.
	29	+E) make sure the binary's architecture matches your hardware.
	30	+ E.g. i386 vs. x86_64 mismatch, or trying to load x86 on ARM hardware.
	31	+ In case you tried loading a non-binary file here (shell script?),
	32	+ you should make sure that the script specifies an interpreter in its shebang
	33	+ header line (#!/...) that is fully working (including its library
	34	+ dependencies). And before tackling scripts, better first test a simple
	35	+ non-script binary such as /bin/sh and confirm its successful execution.
	36	+ To find out more, add code to init/main.c to display kernel_execve()s
	37	+ return values.
	38	+
	39	+Please extend this explanation whenever you find new failure causes
	40	+(after all loading the init binary is a CRITICAL and hard transition step
	41	+which needs to be made as painless as possible), then submit patch to LKML.
	42	+Further TODOs:
	43	+- Implement the various run_init_process() invocations via a struct array
	44	+ which can then store the kernel_execve() result value and on failure
	45	+ log it all by iterating over _all_ results (very important usability fix).
	46	+- try to make the implementation itself more helpful in general,
	47	+ e.g. by providing additional error messages at affected places.
	48	+
	49	+Andreas Mohr <andi at lisas period de>
...	...	@@ -847,7 +847,8 @@
847	847	run_init_process("/bin/init");
848	848	run_init_process("/bin/sh");
849	849
850		- panic("No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel.");
	850	+ panic("No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel. "
	851	+ "See Linux Documentation/init.txt for guidance.");
851	852	}
852	853
853	854	static int __init kernel_init(void * unused)