I compiled a monolithic kernel using RH7.1. The kernel boots, init starts, then it goes straight from:

INIT: version 2.78

to

INIT: Entering runlevel: 3

I then get a set of INIT respawning messages.

In the 'normal' bootup, the file systems are set up between the two INIT messages listed above. All that setup is done by the rc.sysinit script. I rebuilt init with the DEBUG flag set, and it indicated it was reading inittab and starting sysinit (which kicks off the rc.sysinit script), but there are no error messages.

I've added an echo statement at the front of rc.sysinit (right after all the header comments), and the echo is not displayed during boot.

The only clue I've found on the 'net is a message indicating Artur Skawina had a similar problem booting kernel 2.2.15, and the cause was that bash was failing because a file it was using (/etc/ld.so.preload) was empty, and it booted fine after the file was removed. My distribution doesn't have that file, so I'm wondering if something else is causing bash to fail, and whether there's any way I can find out what the problem is, short of rebuilding bash with DEBUG (if it has it, I haven't looked yet...)?

I'm not using any RAM disk, it's supposedly not needed for a monolithic kernel (with the drivers built in). The boot is finding and starting init, so I presume it's also finding and (trying to start) bash.

Why do I want a monolithic kernel? Yes, I know all the advantages of modular kernels, but I have my reasons... ;-)

My host is a bit old (486 with SCSI and IDE, I won't go into the details here), but I don't think it's a hardware related problem.

Thanks,

Gerry Jones