href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
<p>Originally written: 3/19/2012; last Web page update:
-11/8/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.10.0</p>
+3/4/2017, referencing rEFInd 0.10.5</p>
<p>This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="1.00">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
-<img alt="Donate with PayPal" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
</form>
</td>
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="2.50">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
-<img alt="Donate with PayPal" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
</form>
</td>
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="5.00">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
-<img alt="Donate with PayPal" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
</form>
</td>
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="10.00">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
-<img alt="Donate with PayPal" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
</form>
</td>
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="20.00">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
-<img alt="Donate with PayPal" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
</form>
</td>
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
-<img alt="Donate with PayPal" border="0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">
</form>
</td></tr>
</table>
<p class="sidebar">A kernel whose filename lacks a version string matches an initial RAM disk that also lacks a version string in its filename. Note that you can reliably use only <i>one</i> kernel and initial RAM disk per directory that lack version numbers in their filenames.</p>
-<li>rEFInd looks for an initial RAM disk in the same directory as the
- kernel file. A matching initial RAM disk has a name that begins with
+<li>rEFInd looks for an initial RAM disk in the same directory as the kernel
+ file. A matching initial RAM disk has a name that begins with
<tt>init</tt> and that includes the same version string as the kernel.
- The version string is defined as the part of the filename from the
- first digit to the last digit, inclusive. Note that the version string
- can include non-digits. For instance, the version string for
+ The version string is defined as the part of the filename from the first
+ digit to the last digit, inclusive. Note that the version string can
+ include non-digits. For instance, the version string for
<tt>bzImage-3.19.0.efi</tt> is <tt>3.19.0</tt>, which matches
<tt>initramfs-3.19.0.bz</tt>; and
<tt>vmlinuz-4.2.5-300.fc23.x86_64</tt>'s version string is
<tt>4.2.5-300.fc23.x86_64</tt>, which matches
<tt>initrd-4.2.5-300.fc23.x86_64.img</tt>. Many other matches are
- possible. If an initial RAM disk is identified, rEFInd passes a
- suitable <tt>initrd=</tt> option to the kernel when it boots.</li>
+ possible. If an initial RAM disk is identified, rEFInd passes a suitable
+ <tt>initrd=</tt> option to the kernel when it boots. There are two
+ variants on this rule:
+
+ <ul>
+
+ <li>As an extension to the preceding point, if multiple initial RAM disk
+ files match one kernel, the one whose filename matches the most
+ characters after the version string is used. For instance, suppose
+ the kernel filename is <tt>vmlinuz-4.8.0-32-standard</tt>, and two
+ initial RAM disk files are <tt>initrd-4.8.0-32-standard</tt> and
+ <tt>initrd-4.8.0-32-debug</tt>. The first of those files has nine
+ matching characters after the version string (<tt>-standard</tt>),
+ vs. just one matching character (<tt>-</tt>) for the second. Thus,
+ the first file will be used.</li>
+
+ <li>If the <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file (described next) is present,
+ and if an <tt>initrd=</tt> specification is present for the option
+ you're using, rEFInd will <i>not</i> add a pointer to the initial
+ RAM disk file that it discovers. This feature enables you to
+ override rEFInd's initial RAM disk discovery. This is most useful in
+ Arch Linux, which can be configured with two different initial RAM
+ disk files, one to be used for normal booting and one for recovery
+ situations. You can specify each initial RAM disk file on its own
+ line, which gives you the ability to control which to use at boot
+ time.</li></ul>
<li>rEFInd looks for a file called <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> in the same
- directory as the kernel file. It consists of a series of lines,
- each of which consists of a label followed by a series of kernel
- options. The first line sets default options, and subsequent lines set
- options that are accessible from the main menu tag's submenu screen. If
- you installed rEFInd with the <tt>refind-install</tt>
- script, that script created a sample <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file,
- customized for your computer, in <tt>/boot</tt>. This file will work
- without changes on many installations, but you may need to tweak it for
- some.</li>
+ directory as the kernel file. It consists of a series of lines, each of
+ which consists of a label followed by a series of kernel options. The
+ first line sets default options, and subsequent lines set options that
+ are accessible from the main menu tag's submenu screen. If you installed
+ rEFInd with the <tt>refind-install</tt> script, that script created a
+ sample <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file, customized for your computer, in
+ <tt>/boot</tt>. This file will work without changes on many
+ installations, but you may need to tweak it for some. If the kernel
+ options string includes the substring <tt>%v</tt>, rEFInd substitutes
+ the kernel version number for that string. (If you need the actual
+ string <tt>%v</tt> in your kernel options, use <tt>%%v</tt> instead;
+ rEFInd will change this to <tt>%v</tt>.) This feature can be used to
+ match an initial RAM disk file that requires special treatment, such as
+ if you have multiple numbered kernels, each of which has two initial RAM
+ disk files.</li>
<li>If rEFInd can't find a <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file in the directory
that holds the kernel, the program looks for a file called
<li>If rEFInd can't find a <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file or an
<tt>/etc/fstab</tt> file, it tries to identify the Linux root
- (<tt>/</tt> filesystem by looking for a partition with a GUID type code
+ (<tt>/</tt>) filesystem by looking for a partition with a GUID type code
matching that specified for the root (<tt>/</tt>) filesystem in the <a
href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/DiscoverablePartitionsSpec/">Freedesktop.org
Discoverable Partitions Specification.</a> These type codes are as yet
<li>All the kernels in a given directory use the same
<tt>refind_linux.conf</tt> file. If you need to set different options
for different kernels, you'll need to place those kernels in different
- directories.</li>
+ directories. (A partial exception is the kernel version string, which
+ can be passed via the <tt>%v</tt> variable, as noted earlier.)</li>
<li>You must place your kernels in a directory other than the one that
holds the main rEFInd <tt>.efi</tt> file. This is because rEFInd does
<hr/>
-<p>copyright © 2012–2015 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
+<p>copyright © 2012–2017 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
<p>This document is licensed under the terms of the <a href="FDL-1.3.txt">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.</a></p>