Lilo or grub, which is the best? and Why ?

There are previous threads that discuss this issue in detail. Please search for "lilo grub" on this site and also look at the bottom of this page to see similar threads to yours. Its important that you search first before starting a new thread because there could already be threads that discuss the same issue as yours.

1. GRUB
2. Because the GRUB manual says so

Seriously, they both work. GRUB is more common in modern distros. There is also a version 2 coming, but don't hold you breath. (The old one has been stuck at 0.97 forever)

I started prefering GRUB when I discovered it did not need to be rerun with every configuration change. Creating a generic GRUB boot floppy is fairly simple and quite useful.
LiLo works fine but I no longer prefer it.

I had problem in the past with Lilo when compiling a custom kernel. Lilo said the image was too big, the kernel couldn't boot... So I installed Grub and It all went fine. Using a custom splash screen image is easier to configure in Grub than in Lilo.
So my vote goes to Grub!

Both are good when everything works, but...

GRUB is much easier to use when something goes wrong - IF you know how to use it! And most of us don't, cause we never read the manual!!!

LILO has a habit of printing just "LI" on the screen when an error occurs, leaving you no options to proceed further.

Both are equal when comparing advantages and disadvantages. LILO is machine language based while Grub is userspace. Grub contains its own command prompt when something goes wrong which makes it easier to boot up any OS if you forgot to make a menu.lst file or the partition where grub stores its files has been corrupted or accidently deleted. I prefer novice Linux users to use Grub instead of LILO because it is a lot easier to work with.

That answers the question for me!

Grub is better due to no need to rerun it when changed and you can specifiy the partition easy.

I believe that the main difference between GRUB and LILO is that GRUB can read a file system and LILO cannot. That's the reason why you have to run LILO after reconfiguring it - so the configuration can be written to LILO itself. GRUB doesn't require this because since it can read a file system, it can read a conf file - menu.lst.

The "LI" that LILO leaves behind when it fails actually means something.

Link to LILO boot codes: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/a1483.html

I used to use LiLo in the past, before I learned to configure GRUB manually; in the beginning LiLo seemed easier, but nowadays I think differently. As heatsink mentioned, LiLo needs to be run (installed) each time it's config file is altered, because it saves the settings to MBR where it resides itself. GRUB, on the other hand (again as heatsink said), stores it's configuration to a regular partition and reads it at every boot; this way the file can just be edited and that's it; GRUB doesn't have to be "reinstalled" every time you do something about it.

LiLo seems to have some minor problems that GRUB does not have (might be vice versa too); I have encountered one lately - when I used GRUB, changing it's configuration was a piece of cake. At the moment I'm using LiLo again, and though the installation went fine, I can't reconfigure it anymore since running "lilo" refuses to install it (claims that at least one filesystem doesn't match something, and ought to be fixed -- I'm not that sure about it, and won't "fix" anything as nothing seems to be broken). Also, when I needed to do a fresh reinstall, LiLo suddenly refused to install all right, and after 3 or 4 identical tries it suddenly just dropped in.

Some people complain that GRUB's way of dealing with partitions is difficult especially after one has learned LiLo's way; I agree, they don't match, but if one looks closely to the GRUB way (hd(0,0) instead of hda1, for example), it looks perfectly intelligent; as it's very easy to configure after spending a few minutes with the help documentation, it does not need to be reinstalled if changes are made (thus enabling you to do some automation on handling/updating the config), it just seems to be less problem-causing than LiLo (my experience) and many modern distributions use it by default..well, to cut it short, I see no reason why not to use it.

Of course LiLo has a nice name, anyway a lot better than the four other letters.

GRUB provides its own shell that helps you find the hd number and partition number because of command complete feature. At GRUB shell type "root (<tab>". It will list all the hard drives. If you type "root (hd0,<tab>", it will list the partitions of hd0.

Like I said in my previous post, GRUB is userspace which means you can rename the device naming scheme.

One disadvantage of GRUB is it is not safe to use on public computers. The encrypted password can be seen and decrypted. LILO is best when security needs to be high.