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bzip2/lzma: make internal initramfs compression configurable
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Impact: Avoids silent environment dependency

Make builtin initramfs compression an explicit configurable.  The
previous version would pick a compression based on the binaries which
were installed on the system, which could lead to unexpected results.
It is now explicitly configured, and not having the appropriate
binaries installed on the build host is simply an error.

Signed-off-by: Alain Knaff <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin <[email protected]>
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Alain Knaff authored and H. Peter Anvin committed Feb 19, 2009
1 parent ab59d3b commit ab76f3d
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62 changes: 62 additions & 0 deletions usr/Kconfig
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -71,3 +71,65 @@ config RD_LZMA
help
Support loading of a lzma encoded initial ramdisk or cpio buffer
If unsure, say N.

choice
prompt "Built-in initramfs compression mode"
help
This setting is only meaningful if the INITRAMFS_SOURCE is
set. It decides by which algorithm the INITRAMFS_SOURCE will
be compressed.
Several compression algorithms are available, which differ
in efficiency, compression and decompression speed.
Compression speed is only relevant when building a kernel.
Decompression speed is relevant at each boot.

If you have any problems with bzip2 or lzma compressed
initramfs, mail me (Alain Knaff) <[email protected]>.

High compression options are mostly useful for users who
are low on disk space (embedded systems), but for whom ram
size matters less.

If in doubt, select 'gzip'

config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_NONE
bool "None"
help
Do not compress the built-in initramfs at all. This may
sound wasteful in space, but, you should be aware that the
built-in initramfs will be compressed at a later stage
anyways along with the rest of the kernel, on those
architectures that support this.
However, not compressing the initramfs may lead to slightly
higher memory consumption during a short time at boot, while
both the cpio image and the unpacked filesystem image will
be present in memory simultaneously

config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_GZIP
bool "Gzip"
depends on RD_GZIP
help
The old and tried gzip compression. Its compression ratio is
the poorest among the 3 choices; however its speed (both
compression and decompression) is the fastest.

config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_BZIP2
bool "Bzip2"
depends on RD_BZIP2
help
Its compression ratio and speed is intermediate.
Decompression speed is slowest among the three. The initramfs
size is about 10% smaller with bzip2, in comparison to gzip.
Bzip2 uses a large amount of memory. For modern kernels you
will need at least 8MB RAM or more for booting.

config INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_LZMA
bool "LZMA"
depends on RD_LZMA
help
The most recent compression algorithm.
Its ratio is best, decompression speed is between the other
two. Compression is slowest. The initramfs size is about 33%
smaller with LZMA in comparison to gzip.

endchoice
18 changes: 6 additions & 12 deletions usr/Makefile
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -5,24 +5,18 @@
klibcdirs:;
PHONY += klibcdirs

# Find out "preferred" ramdisk compressor. Order of preference is
# 1. bzip2 efficient, and likely to be present
# 2. gzip former default
# 3. lzma
# 4. none

# None of the above
suffix_y =

# Lzma, but no gzip nor bzip2
suffix_$(CONFIG_RD_LZMA) = .lzma
# No compression
suffix_$(CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_NONE) =

# Gzip, but no bzip2
suffix_$(CONFIG_RD_GZIP) = .gz
suffix_$(CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_GZIP) = .gz

# Bzip2
suffix_$(CONFIG_RD_BZIP2) = .bz2
suffix_$(CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_BZIP2) = .bz2

# Lzma
suffix_$(CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_LZMA) = .lzma

# Generate builtin.o based on initramfs_data.o
obj-$(CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD) := initramfs_data$(suffix_y).o
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