On Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Neil Horman <nhorman(a)redhat.com> wrote:
I was usually under the impression that it was at this point just a
nomenclature
thing. Initrds used to be fs image files that were mounted via loopback block
devices while initramfs files are cpio files that are copied into a tmpfs file
system. I thought both dracut and kernel install targets used initramfs at this
point, but the latter just kept the naming for convienience.
Note, I've always just assumed this, not directly checked, so I may be wrong.
Neil
AFAIK this is correct. I don't think anything actually uses initrd
anymore but the name has stuck around - to refer to either initrd or
initramfs. Even the plymouth initrd image is actually an initramfs (I
believe).
Some reading for the interested:
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Docu...
https://www.linux.com/learn/linux-training/92607-the-kernel-newbie-corner...
- Donavan