There are two types of initrd files. One type is a compressed ext2 filesystem. The other is a compressed cpio archive. The latter seems to be what I've seen lately.
Copy your initrd file to your home directory. The use the file commandto examine it.
example:
Code:
> cp /boot/initrd-2.6.27.37-0.1-default ~
> mv ...
Thread: file type for the Linux kernel image file, (vmlinuz) is unknown  |
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Started 1 month, 1 week ago by james2b
The file type for the Linux kernel image file, (vmlinuz) is shown as
unknown, in most major distro's. Some Linux show the initial ram disk file,
(initrd) as a GZip file type, but when I right click a kernel file and
select properties, it says unknown file type, so can that be changed, or is
it best to just let it be ? Thanks in advance.
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Other posts in this thread:
jschiwal replied 1 month, 1 week ago
Size: 1,655 bytes
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jschiwal replied 1 month, 1 week ago
There are two types of initrd files. One type is a compressed ext2 filesystem. The other is a compressed cpio archive. The latter seems to be what I've seen lately.
Copy your initrd file to your home directory. The use the file command to examine it.
example:
Code:
> cp /boot/initrd-2.6.27.37-0.1-default ~
> mv ...
Size: 1,656 bytes
Customize:
Elv13 replied 1 month, 1 week ago
Filetype can be determined using file header, but the extension is normally the "safest" way to do it. The fact that your image is not seen as a gunzip file do not affect vmlinuz behavior in any way, so I recommand to just ignore it. After all, you don't have to play in this file by yourself frequently.
EDIT: Removed a comment
Size: 353 bytes
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jschiwal replied 1 month, 1 week ago
I did suggest using the "file" command to examine it. It will use the files contents (signature) rather than relying on the extension. It will also analyze files containing filesystems such as an image file.
Size: 219 bytes
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james2b replied 1 month, 1 week ago
Thanks for the information, also is there a way to remove older versions of
the vmlinuz kernel, (such as when the package updates installs a new kernel
version, and some Linux will keep several older versions) ? It may work
with a search with the package manager ?
Size: 264 bytes
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jschiwal replied 1 month ago
You could use your package manager. You could also use your package manager (e.g. rpm -ql in openSuSE in your list of distros) to find the files installed and remove them. Of course if you compiled your own kernel, you may not have this information in your package manager.
Deleting the vmlinuz-<version> and initrd-<version> files in /boot, and the files in /lib/modules/<version>/ will free ...
Size: 812 bytes
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james2b replied 1 month ago
Each of the major Linux installs I have, do handle the kernel and initrd
updates differently, as far as how many previous versions to keep. Some
will just keep 1 or 2 older versions, and some like Ubuntu keeps all the
older kernels and initial ram disks files. I think Fedora does it best, by
just allowing 2 older versions to remain, so 3 total with the new. It would
be better if all Linux can be ...
Size: 504 bytes
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