Thanks a lot for the help given. Now, I am able to edit initrd.gz without problem, but, following instructions on Part B of, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=57380 did not produce the effect I was expecting (a quicker shut down). I inserted the recommended line (PUPMODE=12) below esac and shut down a few times, but couldn't perceive any improvement in shut down times. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or I need to do something else.
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
wp
PS:
After revising, I found the line esac a number of times in the init script. Now I'm confused where I should insert the PUPMODE=12 statement.
After some additional experimenting I found out that apparently, PupRescue precise boots with a fresh initrd.gz file. I can modify the file, but after shut down and start up, the modifications to initrd.gz are gone.