Is /boot partition necessary?
 

Hello everyone.

I am following the Pocket Linux and found it really helpful.

Now I want to build a small linux on a small hard disk (50MB, without swap). Is it possible that I make only one partition hda1, holding both the root and /boot? (since usually the /boot is in a seperate partition).

Thank you very much.

Yes, you don't need a separate /boot partition.

Thank you very much Demonbane. Would you tell me whether in this case, I could remove the "boot=" option in lilo.conf? or should I specify by "boot=/dev/hda1"?

I am not sure whether you have tasted Pocket Linux. But I think I have another more general question.

I fixed everything on a single floppy, but when booting it asks me "please insert the root floppy". I have to press a key in order to proceed. I am not sure whether it can load (mount) the root floppy automatically by removing this prompt?

Again, thank you very much

yea you can omit the boot= option, this specifies where lilo should be installed, it'll just use your current root device if its omitted..
but depending on how its setup you might need to install lilo into the mbr (boot=/dev/hda)
and make sure root= is set to the right device as well (probably /dev/hda1 in your case)
As for the floppy the pocket linux website seems to be down so can't help you much there, but take a look at the files in the floppy, there's probably some kind of script that ties everything together, if not try to get the source.

Thanks again:) I am checking it.

Oh I think the answer might resides in <Bootdisk-howto>. I had took it for granted that this file is out of date and never read it. But the answer to that "please insert the root floppy" prompt is right there in 6.3, but without many explanations on this "ramdisk word"

It is time to take a look at the linux kernel internal:)