1 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 # Configuration for initramfs
6 config INITRAMFS_SOURCE
7 string "Initramfs source file(s)"
10 This can be either a single cpio archive with a .cpio suffix or a
11 space-separated list of directories and files for building the
12 initramfs image. A cpio archive should contain a filesystem archive
13 to be used as an initramfs image. Directories should contain a
14 filesystem layout to be included in the initramfs image. Files
15 should contain entries according to the format described by the
16 "usr/gen_init_cpio" program in the kernel tree.
18 When multiple directories and files are specified then the
19 initramfs image will be the aggregate of all of them.
21 See <file:Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/early_userspace_support.rst> for more details.
23 If you are not sure, leave it blank.
25 config INITRAMFS_FORCE
26 bool "Ignore the initramfs passed by the bootloader"
27 depends on CMDLINE_EXTEND || CMDLINE_FORCE
29 This option causes the kernel to ignore the initramfs image
30 (or initrd image) passed to it by the bootloader. This is
31 analogous to CMDLINE_FORCE, which is found on some architectures,
32 and is useful if you cannot or don't want to change the image
33 your bootloader passes to the kernel.
35 config INITRAMFS_ROOT_UID
36 int "User ID to map to 0 (user root)"
37 depends on INITRAMFS_SOURCE!=""
40 If INITRAMFS_SOURCE points to a directory, files owned by this UID
41 (-1 = current user) will be owned by root in the resulting image.
43 If you are not sure, leave it set to "0".
45 config INITRAMFS_ROOT_GID
46 int "Group ID to map to 0 (group root)"
47 depends on INITRAMFS_SOURCE!=""
50 If INITRAMFS_SOURCE points to a directory, files owned by this GID
51 (-1 = current group) will be owned by root in the resulting image.
53 If you are not sure, leave it set to "0".
56 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using gzip"
58 select DECOMPRESS_GZIP
60 Support loading of a gzip encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer.
64 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using bzip2"
66 select DECOMPRESS_BZIP2
68 Support loading of a bzip2 encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer
72 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using LZMA"
74 select DECOMPRESS_LZMA
76 Support loading of a LZMA encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer
80 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using XZ"
84 Support loading of a XZ encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer.
88 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using LZO"
92 Support loading of a LZO encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer
96 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using LZ4"
100 Support loading of a LZ4 encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer
104 bool "Support initial ramdisk/ramfs compressed using ZSTD"
106 select DECOMPRESS_ZSTD
108 Support loading of a ZSTD encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer.
112 prompt "Built-in initramfs compression mode"
113 depends on INITRAMFS_SOURCE != ""
115 This option allows you to decide by which algorithm the builtin
116 initramfs will be compressed. Several compression algorithms are
117 available, which differ in efficiency, compression and
118 decompression speed. Compression speed is only relevant
119 when building a kernel. Decompression speed is relevant at
120 each boot. Also the memory usage during decompression may become
121 relevant on memory constrained systems. This is usually based on the
122 dictionary size of the algorithm with algorithms like XZ and LZMA
123 featuring large dictionary sizes.
125 High compression options are mostly useful for users who are
126 low on RAM, since it reduces the memory consumption during
129 Keep in mind that your build system needs to provide the appropriate
130 compression tool to compress the generated initram cpio file for
133 If in doubt, select 'None'
135 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_GZIP
139 Use the old and well tested gzip compression algorithm. Gzip provides
140 a good balance between compression ratio and decompression speed and
141 has a reasonable compression speed. It is also more likely to be
142 supported by your build system as the gzip tool is present by default
145 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_BZIP2
149 It's compression ratio and speed is intermediate. Decompression speed
150 is slowest among the choices. The initramfs size is about 10% smaller
151 with bzip2, in comparison to gzip. Bzip2 uses a large amount of
152 memory. For modern kernels you will need at least 8MB RAM or more for
155 If you choose this, keep in mind that you need to have the bzip2 tool
156 available to be able to compress the initram.
158 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_LZMA
162 This algorithm's compression ratio is best but has a large dictionary
163 size which might cause issues in memory constrained systems.
164 Decompression speed is between the other choices. Compression is
165 slowest. The initramfs size is about 33% smaller with LZMA in
168 If you choose this, keep in mind that you may need to install the xz
169 or lzma tools to be able to compress the initram.
171 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_XZ
175 XZ uses the LZMA2 algorithm and has a large dictionary which may cause
176 problems on memory constrained systems. The initramfs size is about
177 30% smaller with XZ in comparison to gzip. Decompression speed is
178 better than that of bzip2 but worse than gzip and LZO. Compression is
181 If you choose this, keep in mind that you may need to install the xz
182 tool to be able to compress the initram.
184 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_LZO
188 It's compression ratio is the second poorest amongst the choices. The
189 kernel size is about 10% bigger than gzip. Despite that, it's
190 decompression speed is the second fastest and it's compression speed
193 If you choose this, keep in mind that you may need to install the lzop
194 tool to be able to compress the initram.
196 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_LZ4
200 It's compression ratio is the poorest amongst the choices. The kernel
201 size is about 15% bigger than gzip; however its decompression speed
204 If you choose this, keep in mind that most distros don't provide lz4
205 by default which could cause a build failure.
207 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_ZSTD
211 ZSTD is a compression algorithm targeting intermediate compression
212 with fast decompression speed. It will compress better than GZIP and
213 decompress around the same speed as LZO, but slower than LZ4.
215 If you choose this, keep in mind that you may need to install the zstd
216 tool to be able to compress the initram.
218 config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_NONE
221 Do not compress the built-in initramfs at all. This may sound wasteful
222 in space, but, you should be aware that the built-in initramfs will be
223 compressed at a later stage anyways along with the rest of the kernel,
224 on those architectures that support this. However, not compressing the
225 initramfs may lead to slightly higher memory consumption during a
226 short time at boot, while both the cpio image and the unpacked
227 filesystem image will be present in memory simultaneously