[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > I have to ask a dumb question. When booting is lilo.conf read? > Or is lilo.conf only used for writing the MBR plus the additional boot > sectors? I assume it's not read while booting. > > I'm trying to understand the "disk", "boot", and "root" options in > lilo.conf and when they are used (i.e. are the settings relative to the > disk when running lilo or when booting). > > In the Hard Disk Upgrade HOWTO: > > http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/mini/Hard-Disk-Upgrade/prepare.html > > it shows modifying all the settings for lilo to reflect their current > mount points. > > In a message yesterday from Rogier Wolff: > > On Tue, Jul 29, 2003 at 07:55:24AM +0200, Rogier Wolff wrote: > > Regarding writing the MBR on a new disk drive. > >> - Modify the /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf files before rebooting. >> - Add >> >> device=/dev/hda >> bios=0x80 > > I assume that was suppose to be "disk" not "device". > >> to Lilo.conf, mount the hda disk on /mnt and then run >> lilo -r /mnt > > Ok so this make /mnt the root, so the settings in lilo.conf are relative > to an existing setting like: > > install=/boot/boot-menu.b > > will actually install /mnt/boot/boot-menu.b
Newer LILO versions (don't apply to Debian Woody LILO) has the install= field for compatibility purposes with older versions (<< 22.4). If you are using Sarge or Sid, you can notice that there is not any /boot/*.b files around. These files used to be there but it was hard to maintain them. LILO upstream decided to put them together within the lilo binary and now the install= field is used as a reference. > > But the "disk", "boot", and "root" settings will need to be changed > before running lilo, from what I can tell. > > This is a bit confusing since my *new* disk is /dev/hda instead of the > typical (see HOWTO) /dev/hdb. So I want to make sure I understand > what's happening. > > My current lilo.conf settings on the RAID 1 machine have: > > # Overrides the default mapping between harddisk names and the BIOS' > # harddisk order. Use with caution. > # > #disk=/dev/hde > # bios=0x81 > > #disk=/dev/sda > # bios=0x80 > > # Specifies the boot device. This is where Lilo installs its boot > # block. It can be either a partition, or the raw device, in which > # case it installs in the MBR, and will overwrite the current MBR. > # > boot=/dev/sda > > # Specifies the device that should be mounted as root. (`/') > # > root=/dev/sda2 > > So, again, the *new* disk is installed in /dev/hda (my RAID is > /dev/sda). When I'm done the disk will be installed in another machine > also as /dev/hda. > > To to have lilo() install the MBR to the new disk (currently in > > /dev/had) I'd need to use: > > boot=/dev/hda > > (If, for example if the new drive is in /dev/hdb then I'd used > boot=/dev/hdb). LILO would complain if it is installed on a slave disk. (You will get a lot of 40 at boot time). Look /usr/share/doc/lilo/Manual.txt.gz for the section "Choosing the \"right\" boot concept" to see where and how can LILO be installed. > > Now, "root" is confusing me. The HOWTO doesn't show me a "root" entry. > I would think that root should point to where the drive will *finally* > be installed (booted). That is, > > root=/dev/hda This can only be done if you have a disk without partitions. > > regardless of where the disk is when running lilo. Is that correct? > That is, if I was creating a new disk mounted /mnt that was on > /dev/hdb I'd still use root=/dev/hda. If not correct can someone > explain? boot= tells lilo _where_ it will be installed root= tells lilo what _is_ the partition where the root filesystem is mounted. > > Finally, there's "disk" which looks more like a way to map hardware at > boot time (i.e. /dev/hda is the first BIOS drive number 0x80). > > My current lilo.conf doesn't have a "disk" setting and I assume I don't > need one since I'll be using a standard disk setup (first BIOS disk is > indeed /dev/hda. > > So my real questions (after all that) is simply to understand the > settings in lilo.conf and when they apply -- which is especially > important to understand when building a drive that will end up at a > different location than the build location. > > Thanks, > > > > > -- > Bill Moseley > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -- Andres Roldan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://people.fluidsignal.com/~aroldan CSO, Fluidsignal Group -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
