Anyone Use Lilo with Core 5?

jimbo-62 · 06-29-2006, 05:47 PM

Here is an update. Maybe LVM is not the reason why FC5 will not boot from Lilo. This is a quote from one of the experts from the Fedora forum.

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea why. You probably can, but it requires a lot of configuration... Fedora's been using GRUB ever since I can remember, so that's probably why it 'just works' in GRUB."

Firewing1

Good luck, jimbo

rkelsen · 06-29-2006, 06:01 PM

I have Fedora Core 6 Test 1 working with LILO. Here's the relevant part of my /etc/lilo.conf file:

Code:

image=/mnt/fedora/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6
  initrd=/mnt/fedora/boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6.img
  append="root=LABEL=/"
  label="fedora"
  vga=795
  read-only

Note that I install LILO from within Slackware, and my Fedora partition is mounted under /mnt/fedora. If you were installing natively under Fedora, you'd just use:

Code:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6
  initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6.img

as the first two lines. Of course, you'd need to substitute the filenames of the kernel and initrd you wish to boot.

Also, note that there is no direct "root=xxx" entry. This prevents it from working.

jimbo-62 · 06-29-2006, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelsen

I have Fedora Core 6 Test 1 working with LILO. Here's the relevant part of my /etc/lilo.conf file:

Code:

image=/mnt/fedora/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6
  initrd=/mnt/fedora/boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6.img
  append="root=LABEL=/"
  label="fedora"
  vga=795
  read-only

Note that I install LILO from within Slackware, and my Fedora partition is mounted under /mnt/fedora. If you were installing natively under Fedora, you'd just use:

Code:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6
  initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.16-1.2289_FC6.img

as the first two lines. Of course, you'd need to substitute the filenames of the kernel and initrd you wish to boot.

Also, note that there is no direct "root=xxx" entry. This prevents it from working.

rkelsen; You are my hero! This is exactly what I need. I will give it a try ASAP. My mistake was with the "root=xxx" which every other Linux distro I have tried requires, and the append="root=LABEL=/" line. How in the world did you come up with this solution?

Thanks much, jimbo

rkelsen · 06-29-2006, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbo-62

How in the world did you come up with this solution?

Well, I had the same problem. I almost gave up and installed GRUB, but something kept nagging me. If GRUB can do it, LILO should be able to as well. So, I tried a few different things. This is what worked.

Code:

Rob's first rule of LILO:

If it doesn't work, you need to add an "append=" entry.

jimbo-62 · 06-29-2006, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelsen

Well, I had the same problem. I almost gave up and installed GRUB, but something kept nagging me. If GRUB can do it, LILO should be able to as well. So, I tried a few different things. This is what worked.

Code:

Rob's first rule of LILO:

If it doesn't work, you need to add an "append=" entry.

Well, it WORKS! The only change I had to make from your example was the append line. Mine had to be:

append="root=/dev/hda12"

I will remember "Rob's first rule of LILO".

If you don't mind, I am going to post this solution on the Fedora forum site. Of course I will give credit to you. Those folks over there have been forced to use Grub for so long they don't know another option exists.

Thanks, jimbo

slackhack · 06-29-2006, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkelsen

Also, note that there is no direct "root=xxx" entry. This prevents it from working.

interesting! i believe i had that line, as i was installing lilo from within arch and just copied one of the existing entries, changing the image name, location, etc. that must be why it didn't work, because i've done the same thing with other OSes (e.g., tried it with ubuntu once), mounting the /dev/hdx like you described, and it always worked fine. i would never think to leave out the root= line, how in the world did you find that out?

rkelsen · 06-29-2006, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbo-62

If you don't mind, I am going to post this solution on the Fedora forum site.

Go for it.

jimbo-62 · 06-30-2006, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slackhack

interesting! i believe i had that line, as i was installing lilo from within arch and just copied one of the existing entries, changing the image name, location, etc. that must be why it didn't work, because i've done the same thing with other OSes (e.g., tried it with ubuntu once), mounting the /dev/hdx like you described, and it always worked fine. i would never think to leave out the root= line, how in the world did you find that out?

I have installed over a dozen Linux distros in a multi boot system using LILO as the loader. Fedora is the only one that required this unusual configuration of lilo.conf. Many thanks to Rob and always remember Rob's first rule of LILO: "If it doesn't work, you need to add an 'append=' entry."

Good luck, jimbo