Subject: Re: Diskless boot problem error 8
To: der Mouse <mouse@Holo.Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
From: John C. Hayward <John.C.Hayward@wheaton.edu>
List: current-users
Date: 11/08/1996 15:57:27
On Fri, 8 Nov 1996, der Mouse wrote:
... problems with Diskless boot
> > At this point I get past the root on server:/... and swap on
> > server:/... messages.  It now cannot find /sbin/init.
> 
> > root on server:/.../root
> > swap on server:/.../swap
> > exec /sbin/init: error 8
> > init: not found
> > panic: no init
> 
> > I have populated the served up root area with an immage of of a
> > normal system and have verified that sbin/init from that root area
> > does exists.
> 
> Error 8 is ENOEXEC, Exec format error.
> 
> > The kernel configuration has EXEC_AOUT and NFSCLIENT options.
> 
> You're certain the sbin/init in the root area is in fact an a.out
> binary?  And that the kernel the diskless boot process is loading
> (which is not _necessarily_ the one in the root area, though it
> probably is) was built from a config with EXEC_AOUT?
> 
> 					der Mouse
Arne H. Juul had suggested that I check the exports permissions to make
sure root had permission.  He also suggested that I use tcpdump to watch
the network transactions between the server and the client.

In doing that it looks like it finds sbin then init and finds that
then it looks for oinit (which it does not find) and init.bak (which
it does not find).  It seems that the kernel does not like the init
it is getting.  

I made a point of setting EXEC_AOUT to make sure I would not have
problems which had been warned about.  I assume the kernel it is using
is the one on the boot floppy rather than the one on the NFS root
partition.

I'm rebuilding the kernel to make _VERY_ sure that EXEC_AOUT is on
and then I'll make sure that kernel is on both the floppy and the NFS
root partition (though it does not seem it would need to be present except
for things like ps).

Thanks to both Arny and der Mouse for their suggestions and insightes.

johnh...