diff --git a/initfs/tools/data/foo/bootstrap.elf b/initfs/tools/data/foo/bootstrap.elf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0d77a7513a
Binary files /dev/null and b/initfs/tools/data/foo/bootstrap.elf differ
diff --git a/initfs/tools/src/bin/archive.rs b/initfs/tools/src/bin/archive.rs
index 128e2ab6a9..11b54313b5 100644
--- a/initfs/tools/src/bin/archive.rs
+++ b/initfs/tools/src/bin/archive.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 use std::path::Path;
 
-use anyhow::{Context, Result};
+use anyhow::Result;
 use clap::{Arg, Command};
 
 use redox_initfs_tools::{self as archive, Args, DEFAULT_MAX_SIZE};
@@ -10,13 +10,6 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
         .about("create an initfs image from a directory")
         .version(clap::crate_version!())
         .author(clap::crate_authors!())
-        .arg(
-            Arg::new("MAX_SIZE")
-                .long("max-size")
-                .short('m')
-                .required(false)
-                .help("Set the upper limit for how large the image can become (default 64 MiB)."),
-        )
         // TODO: support non-utf8 paths (applies to other paths as well)
         .arg(
             Arg::new("SOURCE")
@@ -25,7 +18,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
         )
         .arg(
             Arg::new("BOOTSTRAP_CODE")
-                .required(false)
+                .required(true)
                 .help("Specify the bootstrap ELF file to include in the image."),
         )
         .arg(
@@ -39,19 +32,13 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
     env_logger::init();
 
-    let max_size = if let Some(max_size_str) = matches.get_one::<String>("MAX_SIZE") {
-        max_size_str
-            .parse::<u64>()
-            .context("expected an integer for MAX_SIZE")?
-    } else {
-        DEFAULT_MAX_SIZE
-    };
-
     let source = matches
         .get_one::<String>("SOURCE")
         .expect("expected the required arg SOURCE to exist");
 
-    let bootstrap_code = matches.get_one::<String>("BOOTSTRAP_CODE");
+    let bootstrap_code = matches
+        .get_one::<String>("BOOTSTRAP_CODE")
+        .expect("expected the required arg BOOTSTRAP_CODE to exist");
 
     let destination = matches
         .get_one::<String>("OUTPUT")
@@ -59,9 +46,9 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
     let args = Args {
         source: Path::new(source),
-        bootstrap_code: bootstrap_code.map(Path::new),
+        bootstrap_code: Path::new(bootstrap_code),
         destination_path: Path::new(destination),
-        max_size,
+        max_size: DEFAULT_MAX_SIZE,
     };
     archive::archive(&args)
 }
diff --git a/initfs/tools/src/lib.rs b/initfs/tools/src/lib.rs
index 00d9791168..f6d730899e 100644
--- a/initfs/tools/src/lib.rs
+++ b/initfs/tools/src/lib.rs
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ pub struct Args<'a> {
     pub destination_path: &'a Path,
     pub max_size: u64,
     pub source: &'a Path,
-    pub bootstrap_code: Option<&'a Path>,
+    pub bootstrap_code: &'a Path,
 }
 pub fn archive(
     &Args {
@@ -479,26 +479,22 @@ pub fn archive(
     let header_offset = bump_alloc(&mut state, 4096, "allocate header")?;
     assert_eq!(header_offset, 0);
 
-    let bootstrap_entry = if let Some(bootstrap_code) = bootstrap_code {
-        allocate_and_write_file(
-            &mut state,
-            &File::open(bootstrap_code).with_context(|| {
-                anyhow!(
-                    "failed to open bootstrap code file `{}`",
-                    bootstrap_code.to_string_lossy(),
-                )
-            })?,
-        )?;
-        let bootstrap_data = std::fs::read(bootstrap_code).with_context(|| {
+    allocate_and_write_file(
+        &mut state,
+        &File::open(bootstrap_code).with_context(|| {
             anyhow!(
-                "failed to read bootstrap code file `{}`",
+                "failed to open bootstrap code file `{}`",
                 bootstrap_code.to_string_lossy(),
             )
-        })?;
-        elf_entry(&bootstrap_data)
-    } else {
-        u64::MAX
-    };
+        })?,
+    )?;
+    let bootstrap_data = std::fs::read(bootstrap_code).with_context(|| {
+        anyhow!(
+            "failed to read bootstrap code file `{}`",
+            bootstrap_code.to_string_lossy(),
+        )
+    })?;
+    let bootstrap_entry = elf_entry(&bootstrap_data);
 
     let inode_table_length = {
         let inode_entry_size: u64 = std::mem::size_of::<initfs::InodeHeader>()
diff --git a/initfs/tools/tests/archive_and_read.rs b/initfs/tools/tests/archive_and_read.rs
index ae260965f9..cdbe505dbb 100644
--- a/initfs/tools/tests/archive_and_read.rs
+++ b/initfs/tools/tests/archive_and_read.rs
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ fn archive_and_read() -> Result<()> {
     let args = redox_initfs_tools::Args {
         destination_path: &Path::new(env!("CARGO_TARGET_TMPDIR")).join("out.img"),
         source: Path::new("data"),
-        bootstrap_code: None,
+        bootstrap_code: Path::new("data/foo/bootstrap.elf"),
         max_size: redox_initfs_tools::DEFAULT_MAX_SIZE,
     };
     redox_initfs_tools::archive(&args).context("failed to archive")?;
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@ fn archive_and_read() -> Result<()> {
     let reference_tree = Node::dir([(
         b"foo",
         Node::dir([
+            (
+                b"bootstrap.elf".as_slice(),
+                Node::file("\x7FELF\x01\x01\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"),
+            ),
             (b"file-link.txt".as_slice(), Node::link(b"file.txt")),
             (
                 b"file.txt".as_slice(),