[CentOS] 4.1 x86_64 doesn't contain a mkbootdisk rpm

Phil Schaffner Philip.R.Schaffner at nasa.gov
Mon Jun 20 18:08:29 UTC 2005


On Mon, 2005-06-20 at 07:15 -0500, Johnny Hughes wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-06-20 at 06:55 -0500, Johnny Hughes wrote:
> > On Mon, 2005-06-20 at 16:25 +0800, Ceg Ryan wrote:
> > > 4.1 x86_64 doesn't contain a mkbootdisk rpm
> > > Then, How do I make a bootdisk easily ? (I know how to use grub to
> > > make the bootdisk.) But any other easier method ?
> > > 
> > > Thx !
> > 
> > There is a mkbootdisk rpm .. it the kernel just won't fix on a
> > floppy ...
> > 
> >
> http://mirror.centos.org/centos/4/os/i386/CentOS/RPMS/mkbootdisk-1.5.2-1.i386.rpm
> > 
> 

Since mkbootdisk is not in the x86_64 release, yum fails to find it.  A
minor inconvenience and possible source of confusion as it can be
installed with rpm from the above link or a local copy; or in my case, I
linked from a local x86_64 repo to the mkbootdisk rpm in the i386 repo
so it can be found by yum (after creating a /etc/yum.repos.d/local.repo
file and running createrepo, of course).

> OK, this time I will type more slowly and proof read it before I press
> send :)
> 
> mkbootdisk exists (see the above link), but the kernel is too large to
> fit on a floppy, so the image created will not fit on a floppy.
> 
> You must be root to use mkbootdisk (or use /sbin/mkbootdisk)
> 
> You will have to use the --iso option

Presumably only for an ISO image.

Does give a strange error, but works...

# mkbootdisk --iso --device boot`uname -r`.iso `uname -r`
Unknown file type (unallocated) /tmp/mkbootdisk.de4575/.. - ignoring and continuing.

> and create either a CD, usb key,
> or other > 2mb device image

For this approach, you don't want the --iso switch, and 2mb may be a bit
small.  After a few iterations...

[root at wx1 ~]# mkbootdisk --device boot`uname -r`.img --size 3000 `uname -r`
cp: writing `/tmp/mkbootdisk.IG5011/initrd.img': No space left on device
cat: write error: No space left on device
cat: write error: No space left on device
[root at wx1 ~]# rm boot2.6.9-11.ELsmp.img
rm: remove regular file `boot2.6.9-11.ELsmp.img'? y
[root at wx1 ~]# mkbootdisk --device boot`uname -r`.img --size 3500 `uname -r`
[root at wx1 ~]# ll
total 7180
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    1387 Jun 17 13:06 anaconda-ks.cfg
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Jun 20 13:35 bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 3584000 Jun 20 14:03 boot2.6.9-11.ELsmp.img
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 3608576 Jun 20 13:57 boot2.6.9-11.ELsmp.iso

> Many PCs BIOS settings don't allow booting from a usb key.

Phil




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