[clug] Booting without a bootloader & alternatives to /init

[Ben Coughlan]

On 20/05/2009, at 9:53 PM, Jack Kelly wrote:

> ...
>
>> Secondly; can I have the kernel run something other than /init when  
>> it's
>> done booting?  Ideally I would just like to call my application  
>> binary.  Are
>> there any services I'll be missing if I don't use /init?  I don't  
>> need to
>> spawn a shell anywhere, but I would like some DHCP action.  I would  
>> also
>> enjoy being able to pass arguments to this binary if at all possible.
>
> If you're booting with an initrd, the kernel will try to run /linuxrc
> if it can. If you're using initramfs, it will run /init. This can be a
> shell script (surely you can afford busybox sh to fire up a DHCP
> client and then exec your program?). BusyBox init is also good for a
> simple init system. Just symlink /init to whatever you actually want.

Works for me :)