SELinux uses extended attributes for file security contexts. We (and others) have encountered problems booting unmodified 2.4 kernels after assigning extended attributes to the root filesystem.

A 2.4 kernel with the Extended Attribute patch applied will boot. The kernel source that you are using for SELinux has the EA patch, so you can use it to make a non-SELinux kernel.

 On Wed, 2003-09-17 at 14:04, lky wrote:
> Hi, I am attempting to install the new 2.4-based SELinux at Redhat9.0.
> But when I finished the installation I found I couldn't reboot the
> Redhat9.0 any longer while I can boot with the SELinux kernel. When I
> boot with the Redhat9.0 kernel I got the following error message:
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> attempt to access beyond end of device
> 03:09: rw=0, want=xxxxxxxxxx,limit=xxxxxxxxxx
> kernel panic: No init found ,Try passing init=option to kernel
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> my harddisk statistics is below:
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Disk /dev/hda: 40.9 GB, 40982151168 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4982 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/hda1 * 1 634 5092573+ b Win95 FAT32
> /dev/hda2 635 4982 34925310 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
> /dev/hda5 1688 2550 6932016 7 HPFS/NTFS
> /dev/hda6 2551 3825 10241406 b Win95 FAT32
> /dev/hda7 3826 4982 9293571 b Win95 FAT32
> /dev/hda8 635 647 104359+ 83 Linux
> /dev/hda9 648 1622 7831656 83 Linux
> /dev/hda10 1623 1687 522081 82 Linux swap
>
> Partition table entries are not in disk order
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> my grub.conf is listed too
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> # grub.conf generated by anaconda
> #
> # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this
> file
> # NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
> # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
> # root (hd0,7)
> # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda9
> # initrd /initrd-version.img
> #boot=/dev/hda
> default=1
> timeout=10
> splashimage=(hd0,7)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
> title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-8)
> root (hd0,7)
> kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/
> initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img
> title SELinux (2.4.21)
> root (hd0,7)
> kernel /bzImage-2.4 ro root=LABEL=/
> initrd /initrd-2.4.21.img
> title DOS
> rootnoverify (hd0,0)
> chainloader +1
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is it a hardware trouble? How can I boot my Redhat 9.0 again?
> Thanks!
>

-- 
James Carter <jwcart2@epoch.ncsc.mil>
National Security Agency

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