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+.TH MKINITRAMFS 8 "2018/07/18" "initramfs\-tools" "System Administration"
+
+.SH NAME
+mkinitramfs \- low-level tool for generating an initramfs image
+
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.B mkinitramfs
+.RI [ option ]...
+.B \-o
+.IR outfile
+.RI [ version ]
+.br
+.BR mkinitramfs " " -h
+
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+The
+.B mkinitramfs
+script generates an initramfs image.
+The initramfs is a compressed cpio archive. The archive can be used on a
+different box of the same arch with the corresponding Linux kernel.
+.B mkinitramfs
+is meant for advanced usage. On your local box
+.B update-initramfs
+calls
+.B mkinitramfs
+with the relevant parameters.
+.B update-initramfs
+keeps sha1sum of generated initramfs. It takes care to generate backups
+and eventually runs the bootloader.
+
+At boot time, the kernel unpacks that archive into RAM disk, mounts and
+uses it as initial root file system. All finding of the root device
+happens in this early userspace.
+
+.SH OPTIONS
+.TP
+\fB\-c \fI compress
+Override the
+.B COMPRESS
+setting in
+.IR initramfs.conf .
+
+.TP
+\fB\-d \fI confdir
+Set an alternate configuration directory.
+
+.TP
+\fB\-k
+Keep the temporary directory used to make the image.
+
+.TP
+\fB\-o \fI outfile
+Write the image to
+.IR outfile .
+
+.TP
+\fB\-r \fI root
+Override the
+.B ROOT
+setting in
+.IR initramfs.conf .
+
+.TP
+\fB\-v
+Set the verbose mode output.
+
+.TP
+\fIversion
+Set the kernel version of the initramfs image
+(defaults to the running kernel).
+
+.TP
+\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
+Display usage information and exit.
+
+.SH ENVIRONMENT
+.B mkinitramfs
+honours the
+.B TMPDIR
+environment variable. If set, it uses subdirectories in the given
+directory to create its temporary working directories. Else it uses
+.I /var/tmp
+as default value for that purpose. The given directory should be on a
+filesystem which allows the execution of files stored there, i.e.
+should not be mounted with the
+.B noexec
+mount option.
+
+If
+.B SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+is set,
+.B mkinitramfs
+attempts to generate a reproducible initramfs image.
+
+.SH FILES
+.TP
+.I /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf
+The default configuration file for the script. See
+.BR initramfs.conf (5)
+for a description of the available configuration parameter.
+
+.TP
+.I /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
+Specified modules will be put in the generated image and loaded when the system boots. The format - one per line - is identical to that of
+.I /etc/modules,
+which is described in
+.BR modules (5).
+
+.TP
+.I /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d
+The conf.d directory allows one to hardcode bootargs at initramfs build time
+via config snippets. This allows one to set ROOT or RESUME.
+This is especially useful for bootloaders, which do not pass an root bootarg.
+
+.TP
+.I /etc/initramfs-tools/DSDT.aml
+If this file exists, it will be appended to the initramfs in a way that causes
+it to be loaded by ACPI.
+
+.SH EXAMPLES
+
+Create an initramfs for current running kernel:
+
+.PP
+.B mkinitramfs -o ~/tmp/initramfs-$(uname -r)
+
+Create an initramfs for specific kernel and keep builddirs:
+
+.PP
+.B mkinitramfs -k -o ~/tmp/initramfs-2.6.21-686 2.6.21-686
+
+Debug initramfs creation (check out written logfile)
+.PP
+.B sh -x mkinitramfs -o ~/tmp/initramfs-$(uname -r) 2> ~/tmp/log
+
+.SH AUTHOR
+The initramfs-tools are written by Maximilian Attems <maks@debian.org>,
+Jeff Bailey <jbailey@raspberryginger.com> and numerous others.
+
+.SH SEE ALSO
+.BR
+.IR initramfs.conf (5),
+.IR initramfs-tools (7),
+.IR update-initramfs (8),
+.IR lsinitramfs (8),
+.IR unmkinitramfs (8).