Sachin Garg wrote:
> I think that LILO need *not* understand the Filesystem on which it is
> installed in order to load the kernel.
Let us see in yout mail...
> LILO stands for LInux LOader. It is supposed to load linux or nay other
> kernel u pass to it.
Agreed. Thanks for expanding the abbreviation.
> The funda is simple:
How simple? Let us go ahead with the rest of the mail.
> There is an MBR (Master Boot Record) on every HDD.
Is this first 512 bytes of the HDD? Or something else? Binand,
better interfere and thoda aur bol.
> Let us say that u
> have installed LILO on the MBR. The BIOS transfers control to the code
> located in this portion of the HDD.
That is, track 0, cylinder 0. Fine.
> LILO maintains an *absolute* record of where any kernel is located.
That is the catch. If LILO maintains an absolute record of the kernel
then it needs to find out where the kernel is located. For that it
needs kernel's name, am I right? That means it needs to read the
filesystem
record to find out where the kernel is sitting right now. That means it
needs to read from that Filesystem. That would mean that LILO code
needs to understand ReiserFS if it wishes to locate a kernel which has
been copied on ReiserFS. Am I right?
> When
> u select any kernel, LILO reads the location of that kernel and accesses
> the HDD using BIOS calls and loads the kernel into memory.
I believe that at the time of installing the kernel, LILO runs off the
CD and till that point LILO needs to read location of
newly-copied-and-to-be-installed kernel from the FS and to prepare the
boot
map file. Basically LILO would install something in the MBR which would
point
BIOS to location of boot-map file. LILO would also prepare this boot-map
file. For writing this file in /boot, LILO would need to understand
ReiserFS.
Or should a kernel compiled with ReiserFS support do? Once the bridge
for transferring control from MBR to kernel is built, the filesystem can
be anything supported by kernel. BUT before that, while installing the
booting-chain, does LILO need to understand ReiserFS? Even if the
kernel, being used FOR installation, is patched with ReiserFS support?
Many questions raised. Inviting answers to one fine array of questions.
Rohit
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