softlink /boot
 

SL 9.3

Hello,
while copying /boot I found a softlink boot within /boot pointing to /boot. Why?

Not really important, but ...

This is standard in some distros (it's in my gentoo too).
My understanding is that it's telling the system (maybe for grub) where the boot directory is.
So it's just saying (in a quirky way), "boot here".

My guess is that it enables you to have either a separate /boot partition or /boot within the root partition, without the need to change the bootloader settings. If boot is part of root, then the kernel has to be searched in /boot, but when you have it on a separate partiton, you are getting one layer too deep (in /boot/boot), so the softlink guide back. Just a guess, though.

/boot softlink
 

Thank you, sounds reasonable.