| EXTLINUX is a new syslinux derivative, which boots from a Linux |
| ext2/ext3 filesystem. |
| |
| It works the same way as SYSLINUX, with a few slight modifications. |
| |
| 1. The installer is run on a *mounted* filesystem. Run the extlinux |
| installer on the directory in which you want extlinux installed: |
| |
| extlinux /boot |
| |
| NOTE: this doesn't have to be the root directory of a filesystem. |
| If /boot is a filesystem, you can do: |
| |
| mkdir -p /boot/extlinux |
| extlinux /boot/extlinux |
| |
| ... to create a subdirectory and install extlinux in it. |
| |
| |
| 2. The configuration file is called "extlinux.conf", and is expected |
| to be found in the same directory as extlinux is installed in. |
| |
| |
| 3. Pathnames can be absolute or relative; if absolute (with a leading |
| slash), they are relative to the root of the filesystem on which |
| extlinux is installed (/boot in the example above), if relative, |
| they are relative to the extlinux directory. |
| |
| extlinux supports subdirectories, but the total path length is |
| limited to 255 characters. |
| |
| |
| 4. EXTLINUX now supports symbolic links. However, extremely long |
| symbolic links might hit the pathname limit. Also, please note |
| that absolute symbolic links are interpreted from the root *of the |
| filesystem*, which might be different from now the running system |
| would interpret it (e.g. in the case of a separate /boot |
| partition.) Therefore, use relative symbolic links if at all |
| possible. |
| |
| |
| Note that EXTLINUX installs in the filesystem partition like a |
| well-behaved bootloader :) Thus, it needs a master boot record in the |
| partition table; the mbr.bin shipped with SYSLINUX should work well. |
| To install it just do: |
| |
| cat mbr.bin > /dev/XXX |
| |
| ... where /dev/XXX is the appropriate master device, e.g. /dev/hda, |
| and make sure the correct partition in set active. |
| |
| |
| If you have multiple disks in a software RAID configuration, the |
| preferred way to boot is: |
| |
| - Create a separate RAID-1 partition for /boot. Note that the Linux |
| RAID-1 driver can span as many disks as you wish. |
| |
| - Install the MBR on *each disk*, and mark the RAID-1 partition |
| active. |
| |
| - Run "extlinux /boot" to install extlinux. This will install it on |
| all the drives in the RAID-1 set, which means you can boot any |
| combination of drives in any order. |
| |
| |
| |
| It is not required to re-run the extlinux installer after installing |
| new kernels. If you are using ext3 journalling, however, it might be |
| desirable to do so, since running the extlinux installer will flush |
| the log. Otherwise a dirty shutdown could cause some of the new |
| kernel image to still be in the log. This is a general problem for |
| boot loaders on journalling filesystems; it is not specific to |
| extlinux. The "sync" command does not flush the log on the ext3 |
| filesystem. |
| |
| |
| The SYSLINUX series boot loaders support chain loading other operating |
| systems via a separate module, chain.c32 (located in |
| com32/modules/chain.c32). To use it, specify a LABEL in the |
| configuration file with KERNEL chain.c32 and |
| APPEND [hd|fd]<number> [<partition>] |
| |
| For example: |
| |
| # Windows CE/ME/NT, a very dense operating system. |
| # Second partition (2) on the first hard disk (hd0); |
| # Linux would *typically* call this /dev/hda2 or /dev/sda2. |
| LABEL cement |
| KERNEL chain.c32 |
| APPEND hd0 2 |
| |
| See also README.menu. |