On 4/14/11, Rafael Skodlar <ra...@linwin.com> wrote: > On 04/13/2011 07:52 PM, Przemek Klosowski wrote: >> On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 12:52 AM, Rafael Skodlar<ra...@linwin.com> wrote: >> >>> /boot was added because of crappy BIOS that was not able to handle >>> cylinders beyond 1024 years ago. That's not needed anymore and makes no >>> sense either. What good is it booting kernel from /boot and then fail to >>> access core utilities (fdisk, fsck, df, etc.) on another partition to >>> fix the system. >> >> /boot never contains end-user executables. Besides the 1024 cyl > > where did you see such a claim?
You said right above what I wrote "What good is it booting kernel from /boot and then fail to access core utilities (fdisk, fsck, df, etc.) on another partition to fix the system." I was just trying to say that /boot was never intended as a standalone boot environment. > >> limitation, another reason was multibooting: you could keep boot files >> for several Linux/Unix and Windows systems in one place; that's why >> /boot usually uses the FAT filesystem, which is understood by all >> systems without having to install foreign filesystem modules. > > Not true. You do not need /boot to boot any of multiple OSes installed > on the same system. Grub or LILO for that matter handled that just fine. Consider this: I would like my system to run BTRFS. If I had a single-filesystem configuration, other bootable systems which presumably don't understand BTRFS would not be able to access GRUB configuration and their kernels from /boot on my BTRFS. With a separate /boot filesystem, presumably using something widely understood like ext3 or FAT, all systems can access and modify the common boot environment. Another scenario where separate /boot is useful is a RAID setup. I configure my RAID disks with two partitions: one small 500MB for replicated /boot and the rest for RAID. This way all my disks have the same layout and every one can become the boot disk---booting from RAID is supported but isn't totally foolproof so it's nice to have a way to boot no matter what happens. > I rarely setup /boot partition in last 15+ years on PCs. > > Special boot partition was never a requirement on most (DEC, HP) > mainframe or Unix minicomputers to boot up either. OK, but separate /boot is still the default disk setup for Fedora/Redhat and I am not sure about Debian. It's only partly inertia---there are also good technical reasons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Benefiting from Server Virtualization: Beyond Initial Workload Consolidation -- Increasing the use of server virtualization is a top priority.Virtualization can reduce costs, simplify management, and improve application availability and disaster protection. Learn more about boosting the value of server virtualization. http://p.sf.net/sfu/vmware-sfdev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
