Re: grub configuration question

[Haines Brown <brownh@hartford-hwp.com>]

Keven,

Sorry to cross post, but a part of your message was suggestive:

> On Tue, 6 May 2003 04:08:22 -0400
> Haines Brown <brownh@hartford-hwp.com> wrote:
> 
> > I get the feeling that the kernel command must point to the full
> > kernel file name unless it is to a "vmlinuz" symlink to a full
> > kernel (handy for juggling multiple kernel versions). Is this correct?
> > The autocompletion from "vm" to become "vmlinuz" was therefore
> > misleading, for there's no symlink (yet), just as there's no debian
> > grub configuration file. 
> 
> My experimentation leads me to think that vm... won't autocomplete to
> vmlinuz unless vmlinuz exists and is either the actual name of a kernel or
> the name of a symlink to a kernel.

If your inference is correct, then grub autocomplete must have been
looking at something named "vmlinux." However, there's no such thing
in debian's /boot directory because grub not installed on my
debian. But there _is_ such a symlink in my Redhat /boot. This
suggests that the following configuration:

  title debian 2.4.18-686
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-686 root=/dev/sdb1
	initrd (hd1,0)/initrd.img-2.4.18-686

is not looking for vmlinuz-2.4.18-686 in debian's /boot directory
(hd1,0), but in RedHat's (hd0,0). 

When I reboot, I gather that grub's root command not only specifies
grub's root device and partition, but mounts it so files can be read
(this a rough summary of a grum manual). This is open to several
interpretations, I think. "Root" for grub is its own parent directory
(/boot). Then it is mounted so that files (the kernel I assume) can be
read. It may be that root is enabling grub to find the kernel in its
own (RedHat) /boot directory, but not Debian's. I'll give this a try:

    root (hd1,0)

but not optimistic things are so simple.

Haines