Hi all

Ok im a little confused as to what happens in the /boot folder

After a fresh install i am left with 3 files necessary for booting:-
namely

config
SystemMap
vmlinuz

which are all sym links to the real files in the same dir, ie

SystemMap ->SystemMap-2.4.26
config ->config-2.4.26
vmlinuz ->bzImage-2.4.26

Ok so i compile a new kernel and copy the new files into /boot dir ,delete the sym links and re-create them to point to the new kernel version ie.

SystemMap ->SystemMap-2.4.26.test
config ->config-2.4.26.test
vmlinuz ->bzImage-2.4.26.test

and run lilo to adjust for the differences.
(I think that the Systemmap as something to do with where modules etc are stored.)

ok so lilo detects that there are 2 kernels available (does this mean that the symbollic links arn't necessary! If so then the rest of this question is poinless )and configures itself. So how does lilo know which system map to use to boot with? The only thing that i see to be adjustable in the lilo.conf is the kernel name.

Now if you boot linux you are presented with 2 choices like so

linux-2.4.26.test (New kernel)
linux-2.4.26 (Old kernel)

lets say you choose the old kernel, won't the os be using the Systemmap that is now pointing to the new kernel

hope somebody can clear this up for me

thanx

hi there
u do not symbolic links for this
just in ur lilo.conf put the nam sof the images as they are like

this is the O/P of my /boot
----------------------------------------------------
[root@gaurav root]# ls -la /boot
total 7296
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Oct 4 15:34 .
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 Oct 5 16:27 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 46375 May 8 18:51 config-2.6.5-1.358
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 26 23:22 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 195067 Aug 26 00:20 initrd-2.6.8.1gm51.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 199109 Aug 27 00:01 initrd-2.6.8.1gm52.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 111059 Oct 4 15:34 initrd-2.6.8.1gm57.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 112934 Oct 1 19:29 initrd-2.6.9.rc2gm56.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 543 Aug 6 09:31 kernel.h
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 474736 Aug 27 00:00 System.map-2.6.8.1gm51
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 474736 Aug 27 00:00 System.map-2.6.8.1gm52
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 495504 Oct 4 15:33 System.map-2.6.8.1gm57
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 517312 Oct 1 19:29 System.map-2.6.9.rc2gm56
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1137498 Aug 26 00:19 vmlinuz-2.6.8.1gm51
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1133074 Aug 27 00:00 vmlinuz-2.6.8.1gm52
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1207016 Oct 4 15:33 vmlinuz-2.6.8.1gm57
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1237280 Oct 1 19:29 vmlinuz-2.6.9.rc2gm56
[root@gaurav root]#

--------------------------------

and this is my /etc/grub.conf
--------------------------------------
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,2)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda3
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=3
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz


title Fedora Core (2.6.8.1gm51)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1gm51 ro root=/dev/hda3 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.8.1gm51.img


title Fedora Core (2.6.8.1gm52)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1gm52 ro root=/dev/hda3 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.8.1gm52.img


title Fedora Core (2.6.9.rc2gm56)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9.rc2gm56 ro root=/dev/hda3 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.9.rc2gm56.img



title Fedora Core (2.6.8.1gm57)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1gm57 ro root=/dev/hda3 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.8.1gm57.img

title windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


-------------------------------------

so u see i have just specified the name of the kernel and initrd images
i have done the same earlier with lilo also many times

symbolic links are just for ease of use ,not much

regards

The System.map will be used accordingly to the kernel version, for example :

System.map-2.6.7 will be used with vmlinuz-2.6.7

http://www.dirac.org/linux/system.map/