First of all, let me say that from everything I've read, Grub2 in particular is the best boot loader out there, but with its sophistication comes larger size and slightly more complicated configuration (for me anyways.) And I've read that there have been LILO/BRUB "flame Wars" in here - so PLEASE, this post isn't about that. It's more about I don't know grub well enough and the book helps sometimes.. I'll explain.
When I am using Slackware as my Host, it has Lilo. When I finish making my LFS 7.0 OS on my /mnt/lfs partition, all I have to do to guarantee a boot is: 1: Copy the /mnt/lfs/boot/vmlinuz-3.1-lfs-7.0 kernel file to the host /boot/ 2: edit /etc/lilo.conf and copy the last entry in the file and paste it, change the label, the name of the kernel file and the drive where where my LFS is located. EXAMPLE: At end of lilo config file I see something like (comments added for clarity) #----------BEGIN image=/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 label=Linux read-only #----------END I copy-n-paste this and change the values for my LFS: #----------BEGIN image=/boot/vmlinuz-3.1-lfs-7.0 root=/dev/sda3 label=LFS read-only #----------END Then I REBOOT - and I have the Slackware/Lilo Menu Screen, I select LFS and it boots everytime. Now, if your host has LILO, you might find this is pretty slick. You MUST remember that if you make a new kernel you need to copy it to your host's /boot/ folder before rebooting or things might not act like you expect. -----------Moving On Barry mentioned that LILO has some issues that can be problematic, and I don't doubt it for a second. I do however have trouble with GRUB. The Book tells us some steps.. but I get differing results everytime I try GRUB and in all cases I'm not able to run the HOST again. 1: I am under the impression we are to install grub on the host machine because it isn't clear in the book, further trying to install grub while chrooted into the LFS system hasn't worked for me yet. Compiling errors if memory serves me correctly. 2: All attempts to configure the grub menu to launch the HOST fail for me. (note I always get one shot at this, A rescue disk would help here surely) Usually when grub seems like its going to work, I get a menu.. and I think only a couple times have I personally had luck making it actually boot. I often have to edit the menu option here and tweak it to work, it seems so mangle the linux <xxxxxxx> line on me and I have to put it back together - then I can boot. Usually I get a grub rescue prompt, and I'm sorry but I've googled the heck out of that, read all sorts of documentation... that thing is as useless as [insert some funny remark here]. The bummer for me is I like the way Grub allows you set timing, splash screens, fire off windows partitions and much more. Lilo does to but has less features I suppose. Either Way, I have no idea yet how I could make a installable ISO just yet that would boot, start a setup program to gather information, and then install grub or lilo for that matter on a target machine without messing it up. This is something I surely what to be able to do. So this message is not so much a whine, or an ask for help as it is my current place in this stormy ocean at this point. I've made tons of progress, I'm hoping my Lilo Trick for folks with Lilo based hosts is somewhat useful... but I, Like Barry and the Book recommend, would love to use Grub without feeling sorta fearful I'm going trash the machine everytime I try. I know it's likely my lack of knowledge in this Grubby Area, however I still felt like sharing the bits that have worked flawless for me as well. --Jason -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-support FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
