On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 14:50:21 +1300
Volker Kuhlmann wrote:

> > No no , grub.conf is read on the fly on bootup.
> 
> You're talking about menu.lst, and you'd be editing menu.lst to change
> kernel boot options or boot targets.
> 
> How does grub find out which partition to find menu.lst on?

it is embedded in the mbr. Specifically the mbr has embedded in it that
grub's is on partition X and therefore knows that menu.lst is
X/boot/grub/menu.lst

grub.conf is the same file as menu.lst, they are symlinked.

> 
> True, you don't need a grub.conf, you can enter the data manually into
> grub-install if you feel so inclined.
> 
> Do a test Nick: copy your /boot onto /, then do a
> cat /dev/zero >/dev/hda1 (the 32M hdaX which used to contain /boot)
> and see if it still boots...

it won't unless you rerun grub's setup routine with an instruction that
tells it that grub's root is now /dev/hda3 (hd0,2)  instead of /dev/hda1
(hd0,0)

Oh and it pays to remember that grub's root is not the same thing as your 
filesystem's root.

> 
> Actually not a conclusive test, grub might have a fallback and keeps
> looking on other filesystems until it finds a /boot/menu.lst. What if
> you have multiple partitions/filesystems all containing a valid (but
> different) /boot/menu.lst?
> 
> > > [1] The list of actual disk blocks taken up by the kernel image file is
> > > hardcoded (ok around 2 corners) into the boot loader.
> > 
> > not in grub it isn't. You are thinking of lilo.
> 
> Correct, the [1] was in the lilo part of the sentence...
> 

OK sorry, yes thats correct, lilo maintains a list of the physical
blocks where the kernel is stored. I misunderstood your post and thought
you were claiming that about grub.



-- 
Nick Rout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

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