# [Solved]boot fails with "/proc already mounted"

## bospaadje

I recently tried to upgrade from gentoo-sources-3.3.2 to gentoo-sources-3.8.2 but afterwards boot failed with the following message:

```
The "mount" command failed with error:

proc already mounted

Since this is a critical task, startup cannot continue.
```

I got the same with gentoo-sources-3.8.3 by the way. When I rebooted with my old 3.3.2 kernel I noticed at the same point in the boot process a message saying "/proc already mounted", but the boot process did not stop on this.

I use genkernel (with menuconfig) to compile the kernel and make an initramfs so the problem might be in the initramfs instead of in the kernel. I  have tried to search for the problem with google, on this forum etc. I noticed some old(er) posts which suggested to remove the /proc entry from /etc/fstab but I don't have such an entry already. Can someone point me in the right direction?Last edited by bospaadje on Tue Mar 19, 2013 11:21 pm; edited 2 times in total

----------

## ulenrich

Did you upgrade the rest of your system?

emerge -auvDN world

revdep-rebuild

Why do you need an initramfs in the first place: 

Do you have an extra /usr partition?

Can you try to use the dracut tool to build your initrd?

----------

## bospaadje

 *ulenrich wrote:*   

> Did you upgrade the rest of your system?
> 
> emerge -auvDN world
> 
> revdep-rebuild

 

Yes, I did a complete upgrade. I am on ~amd64 by the way.

 *ulenrich wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Why do you need an initramfs in the first place: 
> 
> Do you have an extra /usr partition?
> ...

 

I don't need an initramfs, that's just the standard behaviour of genkernel. I used to build my kernels manually but I decided this was too much hassle some time ago, so I switched to using genkernel. Usually I only need to tweak a few options if I use genkernel to compile the kernel, but now it is apparently causing a problem.

The most interesting thing to me here is that I can boot with the old kernel just fine, even though I get the same "error" message. I am very curious as to why this is suddenly a critical error when I boot with the new kernel.

I wouldn't know where to start when building my own initrd; I use the one genkernel produces out of convenience. Could you tell me what I could try, or link me to a how-to?

----------

## ulenrich

Two different ways you can go:

A) Instead of 

# /usr/src/linux > make oldconfig

do

# /usr/src/linux > make localyesconfig 

for a first step to get a .config which frabricates a kernel able to boot without initrd. 

B) Install dracut 

as your tool of choice to fabricate the initrd. You then can just ignore genkernels initrd.

As  an example my /etc/dracut.conf 

```
# Sample dracut config file

logfile=/var/log/dracut.log

#fileloglvl=6

fileloglvl=5

# Exact list of dracut modules to use.  Modules not listed here are not going

# to be included.  If you only want to add some optional modules use

# add_dracutmodules option instead.

#dracutmodules+=""

# Dracut modules to omit

#omit_dracutmodules+=""

omit_dracutmodules+="btrfs xfs convertfs rpmversion net usrmount crypt"

# Dracut modules to add to the default

#add_dracutmodules+=""

# additional kernel modules to the default

add_drivers+="wl"

# list of kernel filesystem modules to be included in the generic initramfs

#filesystems+=""

# build initrd only to boot current hardware

#hostonly="yes"

hostonly="yes"

# install local /etc/mdadm.conf

#mdadmconf="yes"

mdadmconf="no"

# install local /etc/lvm/lvm.conf

#lvmconf="yes"

lvmconf="no"

# A list of fsck tools to install. If it's not specified, module's hardcoded

# default is used, currently: "umount mount /sbin/fsck* xfs_db xfs_check

# xfs_repair e2fsck jfs_fsck reiserfsck btrfsck". The installation is

# opportunistic, so non-existing tools are just ignored.

#fscks=""

# inhibit installation of any fsck tools

#nofscks="yes" 
```

 It is very easy to adapt!

Dracut has ten times more developers upstream. It is very generic and transparent.

----------

## bospaadje

Thank you for this post! I tried dracut, which I got to work with the help of the gentoo-wiki page (http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Dracut). Now this problem doesn't occur anymore.

Marking the topic as solved, as this solved the issue for me.

----------

## ulenrich

Seems dracut is an easy way

if you compare this short thread with other advice.

I ever wonder 

if the usual recommendation of home-grown handicrafts 

is just a symptom of Redhat hate illness.

----------

