On what partition ?

Deluka · 10-15-2009, 06:26 AM

Hey there
Me and my friend are having some problems here.
I'm saying that "/" partition has the kernel under the boot dir.
And my friend is saying that "/boot" partition contains the kernel.
How is right
Maybe one of you can help us out

catkin · 10-15-2009, 06:35 AM

/boot, like any other directory may be part of the / file system or a separate file system s-- o both you and your friend can be right!

There a few reasons why people might want to have /boot as a separate file system so it is often done but it does not have to be and is often not done

pixellany · 10-15-2009, 06:44 AM

"/" and "/boot" are labels for nodes in the filesystem directory tree---they do not identify partitions. Partitions which are formatted (ie they have a filesystem) can be mounted to any point on the directory tree.

Many Linux installs have only one partition (plus swap)

The "mount" command will show you hoouw your particular system is configured.

pierre2 · 10-15-2009, 07:28 AM

The vmlinuz - kernel is generally found in the /boot directory.

pixellany · 10-15-2009, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierre2

The limuz - kernel is generally found in the /boot directory.

It's the Linux kernel.......the name of the file is typically "vmlinuz", but it could just as well be "fred"....The system will attempt to boot whatever file is named in the kernel line in the grub config file.

Deluka · 10-15-2009, 09:43 AM

Well checked it here and found it under the /boot dir.
when i check fstab i get this

Code:

UUID=3fc2c71b-ed29-40fa-ba65-01f7c418051e /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/mapper/vg_delukaserver-lv_root /                       ext4    defaults        1 1
/dev/mapper/vg_delukaserver-lv_swap swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  defaults        0 0
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0

and mount gives me this

Code:

/dev/mapper/vg_delukaserver-lv_root on / type ext4 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext3 (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)
nfsd on /proc/fs/nfsd type nfsd (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/Deluka/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=Deluka)

For as far i can see no file system called "/boot" mounted.
So when they ask me which Linux partition generally contains the kernel?
I say "/"

pixellany · 10-15-2009, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deluka

For as far i can see no file system called "/boot" mounted.
So when they ask me which Linux partition generally contains the kernel?
I say "/"

Sorry---this is not correct.

You would not mount a filesystem called "/boot"---you would mount a partition (containing a filesystem) TO /boot

Take it from the top:

Start with one partition mounted to "/". In the **normal** Linux setup, there will be a subdirectory named "/boot" which will **normally** contain the kernel.

Now--and only if you have a particular reason--mount one or more additional partitions to different places on the directory tree. Now the system will access the added partitions instead of the original one. (If you do this on an existing system, you would have to transfer the data to the newly-mounted partition.)

Deluka · 10-15-2009, 11:40 PM

Damm it seems that the answer to my simple question is a bit harder then i thought it would be.
I got this from my exam and for some reason they don't review the test.
The quistion i got is this ...

which Linux partition generally contains the kernel?
A) /boot
B) /
C) root
D) swap

But if i understand it correct none off the above are really correct lol

pixellany · 10-16-2009, 12:01 AM

If you have 4 partitions setup and mounted in that way, then the question almost makes sense. The whole point is that it is more correct to say: "Which directory contains the kernel?"

Ignoring swap, I hope you can see the absurdity of the question if there is only one partition, mounted at /, and therefore containing /, /boot, and /root