[Techtalk] failing to customise install floppy

[Conor Daly]

Has anyone tried to customise a RH7.2 install floppy?  The only thing I haven't
thought of yet is a problem with the installer.  Will go and search redhat
for that...

I'm trying to modify a boot disk to add a module rather than having to
follow with a driver disk.  I have 30 machines to roll out all with
identical hardware.  I'm using the RH7.2 bootnet.img floppy image with a
kickstart to install over NFS.  The machines all have EtherExpress NICs
(module eexpress.o) but the eexpress.o module is not on the bootnet.img,
instead it's on the drvnet.img driver disk.  I'm trying to add this
module to the bootnet.img but I'm having problems.  When I boot with my
modified floppy, I get "CPIO bad magic" errors when trying to insmod
modules.  I figure it's something I'm doing wrong when making the CPIO
archive.  I do the following...

mount -o loop bootnet.img /mnt/bootnet
cp bootnet/initrd.img initrd.img.gz
gunzip initrd.img.gz
mount -o loop initrd.img initrd
cp initrd/modules/modules.cgz .
gunzip -c modules.cgz | cpio -t > modules-list
gunzip -c modules.cgz | cpio -i -d

I now have a directory 2.4.7-10BOOT containing the modules.

cp eexpress.o 2.4.7-10BOOT/
echo 2.4.7-10BOOT/eexpress.o >> modules-list
cpio -o < modules.list | gzip -c -9 > modules.cgz
cp modules.cgz initrd/modules/

I edit initrd/modules/module-info to include the eexpress module in the
list.  There are no entries relating to the eexpress in either
initrd/modules/pcitable or initrd/modules/modules.dep or in the
corresponding files on the drvnet.img disk so no edits required there.

umount initrd
gzip -9 initrd.img
cp initrd.img.gz bootnet/initrd.img
umount bootnet.img

dd if=bootnet.img of=/dev/fd0

When I boot from this floppy, the installer comes up, asks all the usual
questions until it gets to the ehternet driver.  Here the eexpress module
appears in the list but when chosen gives the error "unable to load
eexpress.o"  This error applies for any module chosen.  An <ALT><F3>
gives me the actual error message  "unable to load eexpress.o  cpio Bad
Magic".  This error is repeated for any module load attempt (eg for vfat.o
or for ext2.o).  It's not related specifically to the eexpress module but
seems to relate to the cpio archive modules.cgz instead.

Is there some invocation I need to build the archive correctly?

I'll be back later looking for advice in general; this is my first big
networking project and my first remote admin (sounds like the title of a
kids book "My First Remote Admin" with big colourful pictures!) and this
lot is going out to Africa where there'll be almost _no_ local expertise!

Thanks,

Conor


-- 
Conor Daly <conor.daly at oceanfree.net>

Domestic Sysadmin :-)
---------------------
Faenor.cod.ie
  5:55pm  up 16 days, 23:34,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Hobbiton.cod.ie
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