'\" t .\" Title: mkinitcpio.conf .\" Author: [see the "Authors" section] .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot .\" Date: 02/01/2024 .\" Manual: mkinitcpio manual .\" Source: \ \& mkinitcpio 37.1.137.gb6c9154 .\" Language: English .\" .TH "MKINITCPIO\&.CONF" "5" "02/01/2024" "\ \& mkinitcpio 37\&.1\&.137\&" "mkinitcpio manual" .\" ----------------------------------------------------------------- .\" * Define some portability stuff .\" ----------------------------------------------------------------- .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673 .\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq .el .ds Aq ' .\" ----------------------------------------------------------------- .\" * set default formatting .\" ----------------------------------------------------------------- .\" disable hyphenation .nh .\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only) .ad l .\" ----------------------------------------------------------------- .\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE * .\" ----------------------------------------------------------------- .SH "NAME" mkinitcpio.conf \- mkinitcpio configuration file .SH "SYNOPSIS" .sp \fI/etc/mkinitcpio\&.conf\fR .SH "DESCRIPTION" .sp mkinitcpio will attempt to read from a configuration file each time it is invoked, \fI/etc/mkinitcpio\&.conf\fR by default\&. This file defines several variables which describe the contents of the image to be generated\&. In addition to the "main" configuration file, drop\-in configuration snippets are read from \fI/etc/mkinitcpio\&.conf\&.d/*\&.conf\fR\&. These drop\-ins have higher precedence and override the main configuration file\&. .SH "VARIABLES" .PP \fBMODULES\fR .RS 4 Defines an array of additional modules which should be added to the image\&. Dependencies (including other modules and necessary firmware), will also be added to the image\&. At runtime, the modules in this array which were successfully added to the image will be explicitly loaded\&. .RE .PP \fBFILES\fR .RS 4 Defines an array of additional files which should be added to the image\&. Files are added as is, and parent directories will be added if needed\&. Files specified in this variable will override previously added files of the same path\&. .RE .PP \fBBINARIES\fR .RS 4 Defines an array of additional binaries which should be added to the image\&. These are assumed to be dynamic ELF binaries, and necessary shared library dependencies will automatically be added\&. However, it is not considered an error to specify a non\-ELF binary in this variable\&. Parent directories will be added if needed\&. Files specified in this variable will override previously added files of the same path\&. .RE .PP \fBHOOKS\fR .RS 4 Defines an array of hooks which will be run during the build process\&. Order is important, as it defines the order in which hooks will be run during bootup\&. Use mkinitcpio\(cqs \fB\-L\fR flag to list all available hooks, and the \fB\-H\fR flag to display the help text for a specific hook\&. .RE .PP \fBCOMPRESSION\fR .RS 4 Defines a program to filter the generated image through\&. The kernel understands the compression formats yielded by the \fBzstd\fR(1), \fBgzip\fR(1), \fBbzip2\fR(1), \fBlz4\fR(1), \fBlzop\fR(1), \fBlzma\fR(1), and \fBxz\fR(1) compressors\&. If unspecified, this setting defaults to \fIzstd\fR compression\&. In order to create an uncompressed image, define this variable as \fIcat\fR\&. It is not hard to realize that a filter such as a \fItac\fR or \fIrev\fR will cause \fBmkinitcpio\fR to report success but generate a useless image\&. Similarly, using a compression program not listed above may generate an equally useless image, despite being "valid"\&. .RE .PP \fBCOMPRESSION_OPTIONS\fR .RS 4 Defines an array of additional options to be passed to the compression program\&. This option is generally not used\&. It can be potentially dangerous and may cause invalid images to be generated without any sign of an error\&. .RE .PP \fBMODULES_DECOMPRESS\fR .RS 4 Switch (\fIyes\fR/\fIno\fR) to decide whether kernel modules should be compressed or uncompressed during initramfs creation\&. Enabled by default for faster bootup and smaller initramfs size\&. Disable it to reduce RAM usage in early userspace\&. .RE .SH "SEE ALSO" .sp \fBmkinitcpio\fR(8) .SH "AUTHORS" .sp mkinitcpio is maintained by the Arch Linux community\&. Refer to the \fIAUTHORS\fR file for a full list of contributors\&. .SH "COPYRIGHT" .sp Copyright 🄯 mkinitcpio contributors\&. GPL\-2\&.0\-only\&.