[SOLVED] dracut manpage wrong

[chrismurphy]

Either that, or I'm an idiot.

Man page for dracut says:

 --add-drivers <list of modules>
specify a space-separate list of kernel modules to add to the initramfs.

It actually says this for multiple flags, including --add, --omit, etc. But I have not tested those flags to see if it behaves the same as --add-drivers which definitely does not behave as described.

I get errors if I do:

dracut --add-drivers nouveau drm initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img

I do not get errors if I do

dracut --add-drivers nouveau --add-drivers drm initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img

The first instance is a list. And add-drivers, plural, is what I'm trying to do. The second instance is not a list, and is not plural drivers. It seem like it should be --add-driver <kernel module>, not what's actually in the man page. WTF?

---------- Post added at 09:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 AM ----------



so is it widely understood that lists go in quotes? Because

dracut --add-drivers "nouveau drm" initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img

works also. But talk about non-obvious...

[VernDog]

I'm just trying to figure out what dracut's full usage is. I first encountered it here, step#3:
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

[smr54]

You could submit a bug, suggesting they include examples.

A few years ago, it seemed that most Linux pages considered an EXAMPLES section beneath them, but these days, I note that many pages do have an examples section. From the man page description, I think most people would guess it would be

--addmodules nouveau drm



should work. Putting them both in one quote seems as if it would be looking for a module called nouveau drm.

EDIT: See Chris' post below, I mistyped and should have used --add-drivers

(I read it right, just my fingers typed addmodules.)

[chrismurphy]

--addmodules is not one of the available flags and results in an unknown option error. -m, --modules is but --modules nouveau drm does not work because they are not dracut modules. For kernel modules *.ko files, it's --add-drivers.

dracut -f --modules plymouth btrfs initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img

does not end in an error, but creates a file "btrfs" rather than replacing the file initramfsXXX.img

So even --modules is fakaked.

For --add-drivers I get errors as well....

[root@f16v boot]# dracut -f --add-drivers vboxvideo drm initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
F: No modules.builtin.bin and modules.builtin found!
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
E: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/modules.dep: No such file or directory
find: `/lib/modules/initramfs-3.1.5-1.fc16.x86_64.img/': No such file or directory

It clearly thinks that I want an initramfs.img named drm, and makes a file named such.

OK, either dracut or the man page is broken. Should I file a bug against dracut or manpages?

---------- Post added at 11:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 AM ----------

If I add the kernel-release at the end, it just spits out the man page at me.

---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 AM ----------

dracut 013-19.fc16

---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------

Filed a bug. Bug 767736.

[smr54]

Good, hopefully, they'll add a clearer explanation to the man page. You'll note that I edited my post--don't know why I typed addmodules instead of add-drivers.

[chrismurphy]

If possible I'd have them drop the quotes requirement, and work like the man page describes. The quotes is confusing like you said, but then also when reading man pages, often times they put examples in quotes or use quotes for other things, so it might be even more confusing if the man page description for parameters shows quotes. Unless they show examples!