pivot_root()?
pivot_root()?
Posted Jun 15, 2026 7:06 UTC (Mon) by maxfragg (subscriber, #122266)In reply to: pivot_root()? by abatters
Parent article: Practical uses for a null filesystem
that is correct.
the central issue is, that initramfs isn't truly a filesystem, but rather a way to populate the fs-cache without underlying backing filesystem/blockdevice.
Its an elegant hack that doesn't create a real mountpoint, so you can't pivot it out of the way.
initrd was actually creating a filesystem, but needed way more code to support it, so you could pivot away from it.
The issue isn't about the first real filesystem, but about the fact that initramfs creates a world before, without any true filesystem/mountpoint.
the central issue is, that initramfs isn't truly a filesystem, but rather a way to populate the fs-cache without underlying backing filesystem/blockdevice.
Its an elegant hack that doesn't create a real mountpoint, so you can't pivot it out of the way.
initrd was actually creating a filesystem, but needed way more code to support it, so you could pivot away from it.
The issue isn't about the first real filesystem, but about the fact that initramfs creates a world before, without any true filesystem/mountpoint.