initrd panic with 2.4.8

Rico Tudor (rico-linux-kernel@patrec.com)
12 Aug 2001 08:17:36 -0000


Using the included procedure, I can generate this fatal message:

kernel BUG at inode.c:681!
...

Bug is present in other 2.4 kernels, and is easily reproduced.

First, configure stock 2.4.8 with ramdisk & initrd.

Then, prepare contents of initrd:

date >/tmp/initrd

lilo.conf contains an entry like this:

image = /tmp/bzImage
read-only
append = "noinitrd mem=32m init=/bin/bash"
initrd = /tmp/initrd

The small memory arena (32MB) isn't required, but speeds the failure.
After running `lilo', boot machine, and type

exec 3</dev/initrd
cat <&3
exec 3<&- # optionally close initrd
tar cf - . | wc

Crash will occur within seconds. Root file system should be safe, being
read-only. Closing /dev/initrd frees memory, and probably corrupts the
kernel -- keeping it open avoids the crash.
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