Setting a kernel parameter at boot time?

Greetings

I'd like to get fsprotect working on my Dockstar. fsprotect is a Debian package that makes it so that I can make my boot usb flash drive read-only with a writeable layer in RAM. To enable fsprotect on a machine that uses GRUB 2, I would set a kernel parameter like so:

fsprotect=$tmpfs_size

So, e.g., if the Dockstar used GRUB 2 and I wanted to reserve 20 MB for the fsprotect writeable layer, I would have a line like the following in /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-kirkwood root=UUID=b0bbbf98-d59d-4413-aeda-f2b6b9e851ed ro quiet fsprotect=20M

How do I set this fsprotect kernel parameter for u-boot?

Thank you!

You add the "fsprotect=20M" part to the "bootargs".
You can set and save those parameters from within Debian using the "fw_setenv" command, or by halting the boot process and using the "setenv" command on the u-boot prompt. For the latter to be permanently set, you need to issue a "saveenv" after you have modified the bootargs on the u-boot prompt.

So, step by step for changing it from within debian:

1) In Debian issue a "fw_printenv".
2) Copy the whole part that says "bootargs=..." and paste it into a text editor.
3) Now the command to make the change should look like this:

fw_setenv bootargs '... fsprotect=20M'

Where the "..." is the old content of the bootargs that followed the "=".


Whatever way you choose to edit the kernel commandline (="bootargs" in u-boot), be sure to double or better triple check it before rebooting. If you do something wrong there is a good chance that the dockstar won't boot afterwards. That doesn't mean that it will be dead, it just means that you then might need a serial connection to the device to reedit the parameters, in order to make it boot again. ;-)

If your using Jeff's uboot you could also use the usb_custom_params variable. You set can set this variable like this:

fw_setenv usb_custom_params=fsprotect=20M

On my Dockstars I have added bootargs using this variable. Here's what it like in my uboot environment.

usb_custom_params=nic=auto:eth0:dhcp kbd=uk init=/sbin/ubootchartd

ingmar_k, laprjns:


Thank you for your replies.

Re: fw_setenv

I have done this: I have added a fsprotect=20M kernel parameter. But this makes it to where the Dockstar won't boot. It turns out that there's some sort of incompatibility between the fsprotect package and the low-level stuff that u-boot does at boot time. I'm currently working on a different scheme to make my boot flash drive read-only. I will post once I get it figured out.

I'm using netconsole, so I don't have to use fw_setenv; I can use setenv in netconsole, which is non-permanent. I've interrupted the startup with netconsole and modified usb_set_bootargs so that it adds the fsprotect=20M kernel parameter. Then the Dockstar won't boot. Or at least I see "Starting kernel ..." in netconsole, but the Dockstar never responds to ssh. At that point I just pull the power, plug it back in, and then the Dockstar boots just fine.

Thank you :)

Yep, for testing purposes just a "quick" setenv is the way to go. Sorry to hear that your plan didn't quite work out the way you had hoped, though.
I don't know anything about the fsprotect stuff, so I can't really comment on that.

Hi,

If you still have problems with fsprotect, feel free to contact me with e-mail as I may be able to sed some light since I know exactly how it operates.

Hi Stefanos,

Can you supply me your e-mail as I am busy setting up a system with fsprotect.

Thank you kb