Re: Partition Sizes
On 24 Apr, Jens B. Jorgensen wrote:
> This raises questions in my mind about whether
> or
> not the kernel has to be in the root partition. My programmer instincts
> tell
> me it shouldn't have to be there. Past experience with making naive
> assumptions suggest that I not bet the ranch (and risk a perfectly good
> and
> bootable system) on such assumptions. I wish I has a clean, available PC
> I
> could test this on, because I'd love to do this at home. Maybe you'd
> like
> to try this out for us?
There is no need whatsoever for the kernel to be in the root partition.
The kernel is simply read into memory upon booting and then stays
there. It is not uncommon for people who run multiple operating
systems to boot the kernel off of a floppy or a DOS partition, which
may or may not even end up being mounted later in the boot process.
The kernel could even be loaded from something other than a disk--from a
ROM or over a network, for example. The only reason for storing a
kernel on a filesystem is to make it easy to manipulate using standard
tools.
Kernel modules on the other hand definately must exist as files to be
loaded, and should thus generally be in the root partition so that they
are available at all times.
--
Neil A. Rubin <nar5@po.cwru.edu> - Physics/Mathematics - CWRU '98, IMSA '94
WWW Homepage: http://b62724.student.cwru.edu/~nrubin/
PGP Public Key available from above page and from good Key Servers.
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