[TAG] How to boot linux (FC5) without a bootloader...

[Kapil Hari Paranjape]

Hello,

On Sun, 01 Oct 2006, Chanchal Mitra wrote:
> You know what I mean.  I have only one OS setup on my harddisk and I have no
> use for grub or lilo.  How do I boot directly into linux?

You may want to re-consider this.

Suppose you want to test a new kernel before you actually use it? The
function of "grub" and "lilo" is not only to boot some other OS but
also to boot other versions of Linux from other hard disk
partitions. (I hope you did partition your disk).

Another aspect is that modern distribution kernels usually do not
have *any* hardware drivers built in. The boot loader must arrange
for these drivers to become available to the kernel either via the
multi-boot kernel image format or via an initial RAM-based filesystem
that is loaded into memory by the boot loader.

> I noticed in the kernel sources there is a file named bootsector.  I cannot
> find any information on how to use it.
>
> It must be simple to do but the question is how?

In the past the simple way of booting linux was to dump it at the
start of the disk. It would then boot on its own.

As far as I know this capability has since been withdrawn but the
precise version when it was withdrawn escapes me.

In any case, I think the dump to start of disk trick should work with
a 2.0.x kernel which has all the relevant drivers built-in and has
kernel parameters set with "rdev". You can play with that ... very
carefully.

Regards,

Kapil.
--