[CLUE-Cert] [Fwd: Re: Feedback - Sair Linux and GNU Certification Web Site-http://www.linuxcertification.com]

[Ben Roe]

Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> 
> Well, let me kick it off. This one's a bit minor, but still: ...

Here's another (I think):

on page 14, Table 1.3:  the entry for the "boot" directory says:
"contains the secondary loader (chain.b) and the kernel image
(vmlinuz)...."

The secondary boot loader for Linux is boot.b, not chain.b. Chain.b is the
secondary boot loader for non-Linux systems, like DOS and NT.

In the Installation and Configuration book page 49, it identifies
/boot/boot.b as a "secondary loader."  Interestingly, on page 154 it says:
"...after LILO has displayed LI.  At this point LILO is attempting to
traverse the file system and find the chained loader image /boot/boot.b."

Page 35 of the SA book says:  "The basic input/output system (BIOS)
firmware reads the first-stage Linux Loader (LILO) boot program from the
master boot record (MBR).  The first-stage LILO boot program uses BIOS disk
geometry to read a second-stage and third-stage boot program located in a
file called /boot/boot.b. ... remember that the secondary LILO boot loader
continues to use BIOS disk geometry services to read the next stage from
the /boot/boot.b file and to read the kernel file..."

Just a little confusing, in that he seems to call /boot/boot.b both a
second-stage AND a third-stage boot program.

In Linux in a Nutshell (3rd ed.), p. 404, talking about the lilo.conf file,
the install=boot sector definition says:
"Installs the specified file as the new boot sector.  If install is
omitted, the boot sector defaults to /boot/boot.b."  On page 401, the
example global section of lilo.conf contains a comment on "install =
/boot/boot.b":  "# The file to install as the new boot sector."  Which
sounds like lilo puts the contents of /boot/boot.b INTO the boot sector,
rather than chaining to execute /boot/boot.b as a program.  Not likely,
since my boot.b file is 5k, which wouldn't fit into a 512 byte sector!  

Here's what UNIX System Administration Handbook (Nemeth et al., 3rd ed.)
says on p. 17f.:  "Once your machine has figured out what device to boot
from, it will try to load the first 512 bytes of the disk.  This 512-byte
segment is known as the Master Boot Record or MBR.  The MBR contains a
program that tells the computer from which disk partition to load a
secondary boot program (the 'boot loader').  The default MBR is a simple
program that tells the computer to get its boot loader from the first
partition on the disk... Once the MBR has chosen the partition to boot
from, it tries to load the boot loader specific to that partition.  The
boot loader is then responsible for loading the kernel."  Wonder if they
mean /boot/boot.b?

So now we're all clear, right?  :-)

(I think I want to get the source to lilo and see what it actually does!)

-- 
Ben Roe
Denver, Colorado USA
http://members.tde.com/ben
SAIR LCP