On 04/14/2011 09:43 AM, Przemek Klosowski wrote: > 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.)
That's exactly my point. Kernel without core utilities to fix partitions etc. is useless! That's why kernel, modules, OS core libraries, /bin, /sbin need to be in one place: root (/) partition. > on another partition to fix the system." I was just trying to say that > /boot was never intended as a standalone boot environment. that's why it was silly to keep only the kernel and modules on separate partition. >>> 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 First stage of GRUB or LILO resides in tiny 512 bytes long MBR. Second part is in /boot/grub depending on what's selected. > separate /boot filesystem, presumably using something widely > understood like ext3 or FAT, all systems can access and modify the > common boot environment. That's why system becomes unusable any time you install Windows with it's bulldozer destroying the OS loader in MBR. /boot won't save you. Boot loader is OS and their partition format independent. Boot loader doesn't care if you install Linux in DOS partition. > 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. > /boot has nothing to do with RAID either. You need ramdisk (initrd) for two stage loading driver for SCSI controller/disk or network IF for NFS root. See 'man initrd' and 'man boot'. initrd.img resides in /boot, and as I said, it doesn't matter if /boot is on separate partition or not. >> 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. Yes I know, but who says that the default is good? That's the topic of this discussion. I heard from RedHat decade ago that RPMs will improve at some point but I have yet to see that. They simply keep things that work. I switched to Debian/Kubuntu for personal use long ago. Rebooting is no longer needed in most cases as we have a number of free environments for virtual machines to fit most development and sysadmin environments. Developers hated reboot environments in my experience but are OK with VMs. By the way, most BIOSes are still DOS compatible. They are outdated in that respect like /boot, imperial gallons, bushels, barrels, miles, and wire gauges. Change was promised 2 years ago but the only change I see is higher taxes. Some old things just won't go away. -- Rafael ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
