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Does the Linux kernel need a file system to run?
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My opinion is yes, it does, because all useful exposure to the outside world (non-priviledged processor mode) would first require a process running in the outside world. That would require a file system, even a temporary, in-RAM, file system.
Another engineer disagrees with me, but I can't seem to prove this beyond all (unknown to me) cases.
Does the answer to this question depend on the definition of 'running'?
filesystems linux-kernel
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
My opinion is yes, it does, because all useful exposure to the outside world (non-priviledged processor mode) would first require a process running in the outside world. That would require a file system, even a temporary, in-RAM, file system.
Another engineer disagrees with me, but I can't seem to prove this beyond all (unknown to me) cases.
Does the answer to this question depend on the definition of 'running'?
filesystems linux-kernel
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
i think that a running kernel does not "require"useful exposure to the outside world
– jsotola
1 hour ago
Brings to mind the old halted Linux firewall (circa 2002)
– Jeff Schaller
1 min ago
add a comment |
My opinion is yes, it does, because all useful exposure to the outside world (non-priviledged processor mode) would first require a process running in the outside world. That would require a file system, even a temporary, in-RAM, file system.
Another engineer disagrees with me, but I can't seem to prove this beyond all (unknown to me) cases.
Does the answer to this question depend on the definition of 'running'?
filesystems linux-kernel
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
My opinion is yes, it does, because all useful exposure to the outside world (non-priviledged processor mode) would first require a process running in the outside world. That would require a file system, even a temporary, in-RAM, file system.
Another engineer disagrees with me, but I can't seem to prove this beyond all (unknown to me) cases.
Does the answer to this question depend on the definition of 'running'?
filesystems linux-kernel
filesystems linux-kernel
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
asked 2 hours ago
Peter L.Peter L.
1213
1213
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Peter L. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
i think that a running kernel does not "require"useful exposure to the outside world
– jsotola
1 hour ago
Brings to mind the old halted Linux firewall (circa 2002)
– Jeff Schaller
1 min ago
add a comment |
i think that a running kernel does not "require"useful exposure to the outside world
– jsotola
1 hour ago
Brings to mind the old halted Linux firewall (circa 2002)
– Jeff Schaller
1 min ago
i think that a running kernel does not "require"
useful exposure to the outside world– jsotola
1 hour ago
i think that a running kernel does not "require"
useful exposure to the outside world– jsotola
1 hour ago
Brings to mind the old halted Linux firewall (circa 2002)
– Jeff Schaller
1 min ago
Brings to mind the old halted Linux firewall (circa 2002)
– Jeff Schaller
1 min ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
That's rather an odd question because you don't run the kernel like you run a program. The kernel is a platform to run programs on. Of course there is setup and shutdown code but it's not possible to run the kernel on its own. There must always be a main "init" process. And the kernel will panic if it's not there. If init tries to exit the kernel will also panic.
These days the init process is something like systemd. If not otherwise specified the kernel will try to run a program starting with /sbin/init. See the init Param here http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/bootparam.7.html in an emergency you can boot Linux with init=/bin/bash . But notice how you always specify a file on the file system to run.
So the kernel will panic if it starts up an has no file system because without one there is no way to load init.
Some confusion may arise because of a chicken and egg situation where the kernel must load drivers to access it's file system. To get round this an initial ramdisk is loaded from an image on disk containing vital drivers and setup scripts. These are executed before the file system is loaded. But make no mistake the initial ramdisk is itself a file system.
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
add a comment |
In Linux, every device is a file, so you have to have a filesystem to run it.
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
1
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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active
oldest
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
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That's rather an odd question because you don't run the kernel like you run a program. The kernel is a platform to run programs on. Of course there is setup and shutdown code but it's not possible to run the kernel on its own. There must always be a main "init" process. And the kernel will panic if it's not there. If init tries to exit the kernel will also panic.
These days the init process is something like systemd. If not otherwise specified the kernel will try to run a program starting with /sbin/init. See the init Param here http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/bootparam.7.html in an emergency you can boot Linux with init=/bin/bash . But notice how you always specify a file on the file system to run.
So the kernel will panic if it starts up an has no file system because without one there is no way to load init.
Some confusion may arise because of a chicken and egg situation where the kernel must load drivers to access it's file system. To get round this an initial ramdisk is loaded from an image on disk containing vital drivers and setup scripts. These are executed before the file system is loaded. But make no mistake the initial ramdisk is itself a file system.
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
add a comment |
That's rather an odd question because you don't run the kernel like you run a program. The kernel is a platform to run programs on. Of course there is setup and shutdown code but it's not possible to run the kernel on its own. There must always be a main "init" process. And the kernel will panic if it's not there. If init tries to exit the kernel will also panic.
These days the init process is something like systemd. If not otherwise specified the kernel will try to run a program starting with /sbin/init. See the init Param here http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/bootparam.7.html in an emergency you can boot Linux with init=/bin/bash . But notice how you always specify a file on the file system to run.
So the kernel will panic if it starts up an has no file system because without one there is no way to load init.
Some confusion may arise because of a chicken and egg situation where the kernel must load drivers to access it's file system. To get round this an initial ramdisk is loaded from an image on disk containing vital drivers and setup scripts. These are executed before the file system is loaded. But make no mistake the initial ramdisk is itself a file system.
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
add a comment |
That's rather an odd question because you don't run the kernel like you run a program. The kernel is a platform to run programs on. Of course there is setup and shutdown code but it's not possible to run the kernel on its own. There must always be a main "init" process. And the kernel will panic if it's not there. If init tries to exit the kernel will also panic.
These days the init process is something like systemd. If not otherwise specified the kernel will try to run a program starting with /sbin/init. See the init Param here http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/bootparam.7.html in an emergency you can boot Linux with init=/bin/bash . But notice how you always specify a file on the file system to run.
So the kernel will panic if it starts up an has no file system because without one there is no way to load init.
Some confusion may arise because of a chicken and egg situation where the kernel must load drivers to access it's file system. To get round this an initial ramdisk is loaded from an image on disk containing vital drivers and setup scripts. These are executed before the file system is loaded. But make no mistake the initial ramdisk is itself a file system.
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
That's rather an odd question because you don't run the kernel like you run a program. The kernel is a platform to run programs on. Of course there is setup and shutdown code but it's not possible to run the kernel on its own. There must always be a main "init" process. And the kernel will panic if it's not there. If init tries to exit the kernel will also panic.
These days the init process is something like systemd. If not otherwise specified the kernel will try to run a program starting with /sbin/init. See the init Param here http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/bootparam.7.html in an emergency you can boot Linux with init=/bin/bash . But notice how you always specify a file on the file system to run.
So the kernel will panic if it starts up an has no file system because without one there is no way to load init.
Some confusion may arise because of a chicken and egg situation where the kernel must load drivers to access it's file system. To get round this an initial ramdisk is loaded from an image on disk containing vital drivers and setup scripts. These are executed before the file system is loaded. But make no mistake the initial ramdisk is itself a file system.
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
edited 36 mins ago
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
answered 44 mins ago
Philip CoulingPhilip Couling
2,011920
2,011920
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
add a comment |
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
Isn't there a condition where the kernel gives up trying to initialize hardware and load a known file system (not initrd passed into the kernel via init params), then drops into a very limited shell (without init=/bin/bash)? Also, since you bring up /bin/bash, would the kernel always have that minimal file system available, even if it was built with other .config options that could potentially eliminate this?
– Peter L.
11 mins ago
add a comment |
In Linux, every device is a file, so you have to have a filesystem to run it.
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
1
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
add a comment |
In Linux, every device is a file, so you have to have a filesystem to run it.
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
1
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
add a comment |
In Linux, every device is a file, so you have to have a filesystem to run it.
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
In Linux, every device is a file, so you have to have a filesystem to run it.
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
answered 2 hours ago
K7AAYK7AAY
744825
744825
1
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
add a comment |
1
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
1
1
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
But of course the device drivers exist inside the kernel irrespective of whether or not a device file points to them.
– Philip Couling
43 mins ago
add a comment |
Peter L. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Peter L. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Peter L. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Peter L. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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i think that a running kernel does not "require"
useful exposure to the outside world– jsotola
1 hour ago
Brings to mind the old halted Linux firewall (circa 2002)
– Jeff Schaller
1 min ago