Bill Shannon writes: > So if I create a new archive for the old boot environment I'm running > in, it will only apply to that old boot environment. Since the kernel > in that old boot environment hasn't been changed, why would I need to > update the archive?
Because crucial things sometimes change *after* the system has booted. I know it's counter-intuitive. > Do I need to be running in a particular boot environment in order to > update the archive for that boot environment? Seems like there must > be some way to create the boot archive for a boot environment without > running in that boot environment so that the new boot environment has > a valid archive when it's booted. Sure; you can mount up an alternate boot environment and update its archive by using "-R" to point at the root for that environment. I think you might be barking up the wrong tree, though. The archive has nothing at all to do with the storage of the GRUB menu or the integrity of the file system itself. > Would a bad archive for a boot environment prevent me from booting > into that boot environment? I assume so. It could stop the boot from working if it were sufficiently damaged. You'd need to use the "failsafe" boot option and regenerate the archive if that were your only boot environment (that uses a fixed small archive), or use an alternate boot environment and regenerate as described above. > I think the errors I'm getting from grub about the broken boot > environment are low level filesystem errors, and aren't related > to the boot archive, so this probably isn't related to my original > problem, but still I'm trying to understand how all these pieces > fit together in order to debug my original problem. I don't think it's related. Low-level errors would tend to indicate either hardware failure or, well, plain old corruption. -- James Carlson, Solaris Networking <james.d.carlson at sun.com> Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677
