[PLUG] Booting mulitple Linuxes

[Carla Schroder]

On Wednesday 29 March 2006 19:56, Michael M. wrote:
>
>  From what I've read, I gather I should *not* overwrite grub in the MBR 
> when I install a second Linux OS.  I should finish the install, boot 
> back into Ubuntu, and edit menu.list, adding the appropriate information 
> about where to find the kernel and initrd for the new OS.  What I can't 
> figure out is if I'm supposed to move the kernel and initrd images to 
> the existent boot partition, or leave them on the root partition of the 
> new OS, or create a new separate boot partition for the new OS.  I've 
> seen suggestions that it's better to move them, and that moving them is 
> asking for trouble.  I don't really understand what either method gains 
> you, but I don't really understand what having a separate boot partition 
> in the first place gains you.  Is it just an extra layer of protection, 
> in case something bad happens in your root partition, at least the 
> kernel and boot sequence is preserved?  Or is there more to it than that?

[blatant plug] The fine owners of my "Linux Cookbook" already know the answers 
to all this stuff. A separate /boot partition, located on the first partition 
of the boot drive, lets you remove and install new operating systems without 
needing a "host" or base OS. So you could even remove your original Ubuntu 
installation and still have a functioning boot menu.

Don't move kernels and initrd images, leave them on the first sectors of their 
respective root partitions. Not overwriting the MBR with your subsequent 
installations ensures that the GRUB boot menu remains 
in /boot/boot/grub/menu.lst, so you'll always know where it is, and it won't 
be lost when you delete stuff. It's a bit of a pain, because you'll have to 
create the additional boot menu entries yourself. But if you let subsequent 
Linux installations overwrite it, the boot menu will move around. If you know 
how to boot manually from the GRUB command-line it's pretty easy. (In fact 
you can read any file on any computer with GRUB, regardless of permissions, 
because GRUB operates outside of filesystems.)

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Carla Schroder
 check out my "Linux Cookbook", the ultimate Linux user's
 and sysadmin's guide! http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~