Re: Errors in man pages, here: initrd(4): Markup

["Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)" <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>]

On 4/19/20 8:48 AM, Helge Kreutzmann wrote:
> Dear manpages maintainers.
> the manpage-l10n project maintains a large number of translations of
> man pages both from a large variety of sources (including manpages) as
> well for a large variety of target languages.
> 
> During their work translators notice different possible issues in the
> original (english) man pages. Sometiems this is a straightforward
> typo, sometimes a hard to read sentence, sometimes this is a convention
> not held up and sometimes we simply do not understand the original.
> 
> We use several distributions as sources and update regularly (at
> least every 2 month). This means we are fairly recent (some
> distributions like archlinux also update frequently) but might miss
> the latest upstream version once a while, so the error might be
> already fixed. We apologize and ask you to close the issue immediately
> if this should be the case, but given the huge volume of projects and
> the very limited number of volunteers we are not able to double check
> each and every issue.
> 
> Secondly we translators see the manpages in the neutral po format,
> i.e. converted and harmonized, but not the original source (be it man,
> groff, xml or other). So we cannot provide a true patch (where
> possible), but only an approximation which you need to translate into
> your source format.
> 
> Finally the issues I'm reporting have accumulated over time and are
> not always discovered by me, so sometimes my description of the
> problem my be a bit limited - do not hesitate to ask so we can clarify
> them.
> 
> I'm now reporting the errors for your project. As requested, each
> issue is sent in an unique mail for easier tracking on your side. If
> future reports should use another channel, please let me know.
> 
> **
> 
> Markup B
> 
> msgid "I<noinitrd>"

Fixed.

I need more explanation of all of the remaining:

> --
> Markup "linuxrc"
> 
> "It is also possible for the I</linuxrc> executable to change the normal root "
> "device.  For I</linuxrc> to change the normal root device, I</proc> must be "
> "mounted.  After mounting I</proc>, I</linuxrc> changes the normal root "
> "device by writing into the proc files I</proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev>, I</"
> "proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-name>, and I</proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-addrs>.  For "
> "a physical root device, the root device is changed by having I</linuxrc> "
> "write the new root filesystem device number into I</proc/sys/kernel/real-"
> "root-dev>.  For an NFS root filesystem, the root device is changed by having "
> "I</linuxrc> write the NFS setting into files I</proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-"
> "name> and I</proc/sys/kernel/nfs-root-addrs> and then writing 0xff (e.g., "
> "the pseudo-NFS-device number) into file I</proc/sys/kernel/real-root-dev>.  "
> "For example, the following shell command line would change the normal root "
> "device to I</dev/hdb1>:"
> --
> Markup "linuxrc"
> 
> "The main motivation for implementing B<initrd> was to allow for modular "
> "kernel configuration at system installation."
> --
> Markup "linuxrc"
> 
> "The executable I</linuxrc> loads the necessary modules from the initial root "
> "filesystem."
> --
> Markup "initrd"
> 
> "Last but not least, Linux distributions on CD-ROM may use B<initrd> for easy "
> "installation from the CD-ROM.  The distribution can use B<LOADLIN> to "
> "directly load I</dev/initrd> from CD-ROM without the need of any floppies.  "
> "The distribution could also use a B<LILO> boot floppy and then bootstrap a "
> "bigger RAM disk via I</dev/initrd> from the CD-ROM."

Thanks,

Michael

-- 
Michael Kerrisk
Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
Linux/UNIX System Programming Training: http://man7.org/training/