{SOLVED} e4rat - no /var/lib/e4rat/startup.log created

claudecat · n00b Joined: 26 Mar 2012 Posts: 28 Location: Md, Usa

I'm trying to use e4rat as I have on Arch (works great there) but, as the topic says, no startup.log is created after adding init=/sbin/e4rat-collect to my grub kernel line. I've read the wiki, checked /etc/e4rat.conf and googled to no avail. Auditing is enabled in the kernel (3.3.0), and I've tried adding rw to the kernel line as well. Anyone know why this isn't working? Something to do with the 3.3.0 kernel maybe?
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i92guboj · Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:16 am Post subject:

If var is in a different partition, just to discard issues with that you could try to set the path for the log file to /.

I assume you already checked the basics, and that the e4rat message at the init stage is being shown and all that.

claudecat · n00b Joined: 26 Mar 2012 Posts: 28 Location: Md, Usa

/var is on the root partition, but I don't recall seeing the e4rat message at the init stage - text flies by pretty quickly, but dmesg doesn't show anything. Not sure if that's the issue or how to fix it...
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i92guboj · Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:24 pm Post subject:

The message appears at the end of the kernel loading process, and just right *before* init. Which implies it's in the most visible space of the whole output, during the boot process.

What I'd do: in grub you can edit the kernel line interactively at the boot menu, so, do it, and make sure that init is set to the e4rat loader. If not, there's your problem.

I'd personally run it this way always, since it's not intended to be run at every boot, but only once in a while, provided that your setup has varied significantly.

claudecat · n00b Joined: 26 Mar 2012 Posts: 28 Location: Md, Usa

Ok, the issue seems to be that the "e4rat loader" isn't being run at boot, despite my interactively editing the grub kernel command to include rw and /init=/sbin/e4rat-collect. I see nothing in the boot messages or in dmsg that mentions e4rat, and then of course no /var/lib/e4rat/startup.log is created. The question is why is e4rat-collect not being run? There's no even an error message... it's like my edit of the kernel command is not being registered. Other kernel command options are acted on (I had quiet splash there, which I remove for the e4rat stuff - and indeed it's no longer a quiet splash boot, just no mention of e4rat). Still puzzled by this, but I appreciate your (and anyone else's) attempts to help!
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SlashBeast · Retired Dev Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 2922

you do have '/init='? It suppose to be 'init=', without leading '/'.

i92guboj · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:21 am Post subject:

Any random typo will result in such effect. Note that the kernel will not complain if a given option is invalid, because the kernel doesn't handle all the options itself and it has no way to know if that parameter will be valid for a 3rd party kernel (i.e. the nvidia video driver, or the like). So, it just ignores the parameters it can't handle in the hope that any other consumer will want that parameter for itself.

claudecat · n00b Joined: 26 Mar 2012 Posts: 28 Location: Md, Usa

That was a typo... sorry! I append rw init=/sbin/e4rat-collect to the kernel line (replacing quiet splash). I guess I'm gonna give up on this as no amount of searching seems to find any mention of my particular symptoms. Thanks again for trying

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i92guboj · Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 6:34 am Post subject:

Are you sure the binary is in that place and not /usr/sbin/ or elsewhere? If you proceed as I described above and edit the kernel line interactively in grub at boot time you can use TAB completion to make sure about that.

If you don't feel like trying again then that's fine, better luck next time

claudecat · n00b Joined: 26 Mar 2012 Posts: 28 Location: Md, Usa

Ok, I figured it out. I was using genkernel, so I decided to try compiling my own kernel and NOT use an initramfs, as I thought maybe that was causing the issue. That solved it, though I still had to add rw to the kernel line in grub. Not totally sure what the specific issue was with genkernel or initramfs, but at least it's working now. Marking this SOLVED.
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