[linux-lvm] problems converting from root-lvm to standard

[SI Reasoning]

I have had a root-lvm for some time now and I have been attempting to
convert my root-lvm to a standard /dev/hdxx root. Unfortunately it has
not gone smoothly.

My host system is Gentoo. I used a live-cd (knoppix) mounted the old
lvm-root (/dev/sys/root) and the new root (/dev/hde5) and from within
the mounted lvm-root I ran
find -xdev | cpio -pvmd /mnt/root

Then I mounted the various other partitions within the new root,
/mnt/root such as 
mount /dev/hde3 /mnt/root/boot
mount -t proc proc /mnt/root/proc
mount /dev/sys/usr /mnt/root/usr
etc...
I then "chroot /mnt/root"
from within chroot I went to /boot
and tried to mkinitrd
mkinitrd initrd-2.4.20-xfs-r3.gz 2.4.20-xfs-r3
but it failed with the message along the lines of:
/dev/null permission denied.
I tried several ways to get around that including chmod 666 /dev/null
but it failed.

So I tossed the live-cd and booted into gentoo with
2.4.20-xfs-r3 S
(single user mode)

from within I reset up chroot as above and was able to mkinitrd. I then
setup lilo.conf and changed to root=/dev/hde5 on the default "linux" and
created links within /boot with initrd > initrd-2.4.20-xfs-r3.gz and
vmlinuz > vmlinuz-2.4.20-xfs-r3.
I ran lilo and it looked fine and rebooted.

Unfortunately I got a kernel panic. The first sign of something wrong
was when it could not write in the partition table (in /dev maybe) and
then I got the message that I should try "initrd= " at kernel boot.

Any ideas where I may have gone wrong? My understanding is that lvm-root
is much more difficult with lvm2, esp since it is not directly part of
2.6 and I am wanting to setup an easier way to convert to lvm2 so that I
could go back and forth between 2.4 and 2.6.



-- 
SI Reasoning
si at mindspring.com
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The significant problems we face cannot be solved by 
the same level of thinking that created them. 
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