Re: [PATCH 2/2] kbuild: Move gen_init_cpio and gen_initramfs.sh to scripts/

[Thomas Weißschuh]

On Mon, Mar 09, 2026 at 08:56:30AM +0100, Nicolas Schier wrote:
> get_init_cpio and gen_initramfs.sh are part of kbuild and required for

"gen_init_cpio"

> all kernel builds.  Move it to scripts/ to be more clear about their
> importance.

As far as I can see, gen_init_cpio is currently only built and used if
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD is enabled. So "required for all kernel builds"
sounds wrong.

This on-demand build can probably be preserved like this:

hostprogs += gen_init_cpio
always-$(CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD) += gen_init_cpio

> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aSdrCFkUQup3qb-q@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
> Signed-off-by: Nicolas Schier <nsc@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> 
> Nathan, could this go through kbuild-fixes even though it is not really
> a fix?  Introducing a top-level Makefile target 'usr_gen_init_cpio'
> in v7.0 and renaming it to 'scripts/gen_init_cpio` in v7.1 doesn't sound
> good to me.
> ---
>  MAINTAINERS                       |  1 +
>  Makefile                          | 10 +++++-----
>  scripts/.gitignore                |  1 +
>  scripts/Makefile                  |  2 ++
>  {usr => scripts}/gen_init_cpio.c  |  0
>  {usr => scripts}/gen_initramfs.sh |  2 +-
>  scripts/remove-stale-files        |  2 ++
>  usr/.gitignore                    |  4 +++-
>  usr/Makefile                      |  4 +---
>  9 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
> index 55af015174a5..0e374c92941f 100644
> --- a/MAINTAINERS
> +++ b/MAINTAINERS
> @@ -13833,6 +13833,7 @@ F:	scripts/basic/
>  F:	scripts/clang-tools/
>  F:	scripts/container
>  F:	scripts/dummy-tools/
> +F:	scripts/gen_init*
>  F:	scripts/include/
>  F:	scripts/install.sh
>  F:	scripts/mk*
> diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
> index 0e788ce45457..7798863002ac 100644
> --- a/Makefile
> +++ b/Makefile
> @@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ no-dot-config-targets := $(clean-targets) \
>  			 $(version_h) headers headers_% archheaders archscripts \
>  			 %asm-generic kernelversion %src-pkg dt_binding_check \
>  			 outputmakefile rustavailable rustfmt rustfmtcheck \
> -			 usr_gen_init_cpio \
> +			 scripts/gen_init_cpio \
>  			 run-command
>  no-sync-config-targets := $(no-dot-config-targets) %install modules_sign kernelrelease \
>  			  image_name
> @@ -1437,9 +1437,9 @@ ifdef CONFIG_HEADERS_INSTALL
>  prepare: headers
>  endif
>  
> -PHONY += usr_gen_init_cpio
> -usr_gen_init_cpio: scripts_basic
> -	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(build)=usr usr/gen_init_cpio
> +PHONY += scripts/gen_init_cpio
> +scripts/gen_init_cpio: scripts_basic
> +	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(build)=scripts scripts/gen_init_cpio

The other proxy targets for scripts/ use the 'scripts_' prefix.
Why is this one different?

(...)

> diff --git a/scripts/Makefile b/scripts/Makefile
> index 0941e5ce7b57..039863cd064e 100644
> --- a/scripts/Makefile
> +++ b/scripts/Makefile
> @@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ ifdef CONFIG_BUILDTIME_MCOUNT_SORT
>  HOSTCFLAGS_sorttable.o += -DMCOUNT_SORT_ENABLED
>  endif
>  
> +hostprogs-always-y += gen_init_cpio
> +
>  # The following programs are only built on demand
>  hostprogs += unifdef gen_packed_field_checks

(...)