the system shell doesn't handle terminal IO Does this help? http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs#Job_Control http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs#Job_C

the system shell doesn't handle terminal IO Does this help? http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs#Job_Control http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Initramfs#Job_Control the RHEL initrd You haven't seen how this epic engineering artifact of wheel reinvention is exploding in your face. See http://lwn.net/Articles/506842/ http://lwn.net/Articles/506842/ Now try debug it with rd.debug and you will have debug info printed for debug info printing functions.