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Last-modified: 18 Jan 95
The Linux Bootdisk HOWTO
Graham Chapman, grahamc@zeta.org.au
v1.0, 2 January 1995
This document describes how to create Linux boot, boot/root and util-
ity maintenance disks. These disks could be used as rescue disks or to
test new kernels.
1. Introduction
These notes provide information on ways of producing Linux boot and
rescue diskettes. Such diskettes could be of use when:
o Booting Linux to test a new kernel or after having lost a hard disk
boot sector.
o Running a diskette Linux system to restore a hard disk Linux system
following disk crash or corruption.
Experienced Linux users will probably find little of use in this
document. However users new to Linux system administration who wish to
protect against root disk loss and other mishaps may find it useful.
This document attempts to provide the reader with the information they
need to set up boot disks themselves to suit their own conditions and
needs, rather than providing a pre-packaged solution. Several such
packages are available (see the section titled "Further Information"),
but often system administrators need to know how it works more than
they need the tools.
1.1. Compatibility
The information here is current for the following software versions:
o Linux 1.1.57
o LILO 0.15
1.2. Feedback
I welcome any feedback, good or bad, on the content of this document.
Please let me know if you find any errors or omissions.
1.3. Copyright
Copyright (c) Graham Chapman 1995.
Permission is granted for this material to be freely used and
distributed, provided the source is acknowledged. No warranty of any
kind is provided. You use this material at your own risk.
2. Overview - Types of Bootable Diskette
Bootable diskettes can be of the following types:
boot diskette
This is a diskette containing a kernel at the start of the disk,
but with with no file system. The diskette which can be used to
run the kernel using a file system on another drive.
A boot diskette can be used to boot a system using another disk
drive as the root file system. This could be useful if for some
reason you can't boot the system from the root file system, as
happens when the boot sector is corrupted, perhaps due to
mistakes with installation of a boot loader.
boot/root diskette
This is a diskette containing a complete bootable system,
including file system, kernel and utilities.
A boot/root diskette can be used to run the system independently
of any other drives. Possible uses for this are:
o When you wish to check the root file system with fsck. This
should only be done when the root file system is NOT mounted.
o When the root file system is corrupted and you want to either
rebuild it or restore it's contents from backup.
3. Boot Diskette
3.1. Overview
A boot diskette contains a single file containing the kernel, which is
written to the diskette as a raw device, so that the file starts at
sector 0, cylinder 0, which is the boot sector. All PC systems start
the boot process by executing code in ROM to load the sector from
sector 0, cylinder 0 of the boot drive and try and execute it.
On most bootable disks, sector 0, cylinder 0 contains code from a boot
loader such as LILO, which locates the kernel, loads it and executes
it to start the boot proper.
If a Linux kernel has been written to a diskette as described above,
then the first sector will be the first sector of the Linux kernel
itself, and this sector will continue the boot process by loading the
rest of the kernel and running Linux.
For a more detailed description of the boot sector contents, see the
documentation in lilo-01.5 or higher.
3.2. Setting Pointer to Root
This kernel must contain a pointer to the drive and partititon to be
mounted as the root drive. This can be inserted into the kernel in
several ways:
o By setting ROOT_DEV = <device> in the Linux kernel makefile and
rebuilding the kernel (for advice on how to rebuild the kernel,
read the Linux FAQ and look in /usr/src/linux). Comments in the
Linux makefile describe the valid values for <device>.
o By running the rdev utility:
rdev <filename> <device>
This will set the root device of the kernel contained in <filename> to
be <device>. For example:
rdev Image /dev/sda1
This sets the root device in the kernel in Image to the first parti-
tion on the first SCSI drive.
There are some alternative ways of issuing the rdev command. Try:
rdev -?
and it will display command usage.
Note that there is usually no need to configure the root device for
boot diskette use, because the kernel currently used to boot from
already points to the root drive device.
3.3. Copying Kernel to Boot Diskette
Once the kernel has been configured then it must be copied to the boot
diskette using the dd command, as follows:
dd if=<filename> of=<device>
where <filename> is the name of the kernel
and <device> is the diskette raw device,
usually /dev/fd0
The seek parameter to the dd command should NOT be used. The file must
be copied to start at the boot sector (sector 0, cylinder 0), and
omitting the seek parameter will do this.
The output device name varies. Many systems have /dev/fd0 as an alias
of one sort or another for the "real" device name for the default
diskette drive. For example, where the default drive (i.e. "drive A:"
in DOS) is a high density 3 1/2 inch diskette drive, the device name
will be /dev/fd0H1440, but usually /dev/fd0 points to the same device.
4. Boot/Root Diskette System Overview
A boot/root diskette contains a complete working Linux system, able to
run in multi-user mode, with all that that implies. To be able to do
this, the diskette must include the minimum requirements for a Linux
system:
o Kernel.
o File system.
o Minimum set of directories - bin, etc, lib, usr, tmp.
o Basic set of utilities - bash (to run a shell), ls, cp etc.
o Minimum set of config files - rc, inittab, fstab etc.
o Runtime library to provide basic functions used by utilities.
Of course, any system only becomes useful when you can run something
on it, and a boot/root diskette usually only becomes useful when you
can do something like:
o Check a file system on another drive, for example to check your
root file system on your hard drive, you need to be able to boot
Linux from another drive, as you can with a boot/root diskette
system. Then you can run fsck on your original root drive while it
is not mounted.
o Restore all or part of your original root drive from backup using
archive/compression utilities including cpio, tar, gzip and ftape.
5. RAM Drives and Boot/Root Systems
For a boot/root system to be efficient, you need to be able to run it
from a ramdrive, i.e. an emulated disk drive in main memory. This
avoids having the system run at a snail's pace, which a diskette would
impose.
There is an added benefit from using a ramdrive - the Linux kernel
includes an automatic ramdisk root feature, whereby it will, under
certain circumstances, automatically copy the contents of a boot/root
diskette to a RAM disk, and then switch the root drive to be the RAM
disk instead of the diskette. This has two major benefits:
o The system runs a lot faster.
o The diskette drive is freed up to allow other diskettes to be used
on a single-diskette drive system.
The requirements for this feature to be invoked are:
o The file system on the diskette drive must be a minix file system.
This could change future kernels. You could change it on your own
sytem by modifying the code in
/usr/src/linux/drivers/block/ramdisk.c to operate with superblocks
from file systems other than minix. The code (in my version, at
least) even contains a comment saying that it should not be
restricted to just minix. Note that I have not tested this,
though.
o A RAM disk must be configured into the kernel, and it must be at
least as big as the diskette drive.
A RAM disk can be configured into the kernel in several ways:
o By uncommenting the RAMDISK macro in the Linux kernel makefile, so
that it reads:
RAMDISK = -DRAMDISK=1440
to define a ramdisk of 1440 1K blocks, the size of a high-density
diskette;
o By running the rdev utility, available on most Linux systems. This
utility displays or sets values for several things in the kernel,
including the desired size for a ramdisk. To configure a ramdisk of
1440 blocks into a kernel in a file named Image, enter:
rdev -r Image 1440
this might change in the future, of course. To see what your version
of rdev does, enter the command:
rdev -?
and it should display its options.
o By using the boot loader package LILO to configure it into your
kernel at boot time. This can be done using the LILO configuration
parameter:
ramdisk = 1440
to request a RAM drive of 1440 1K blocks at boot time.
The easiest of these three methods is the last, LILO, bceause you need
to set up a LILO configuration file anyway, so why not add the ramdisk
size here.
LILO configuration is briefly described in a section titled "LILO"
below, but it is advisable to obtain the latest stable version of LILO
from your nearest Linux mirror site, and read the documentation that
comes with it.
6. File Systems
There is not a lot of choice about which file system you choose,
unless you modify ramdisk.c in the kernel (see above). If you don't,
then a minix file system must be used. Note that, for a system as
small as a diskette, it probably doesn't make much difference what
file system is used.
To create a minix file system on a diskette on my system, I issue the
following command:
mkfs /dev/fd0 1440
To create one on your system, I suggest you check the man pages, and
issue the command:
mkfs -?
to see its options.
An easy way to test the result is to create a system using the above
command or similar, and then attempt to mount the diskette. If it is a
minix system, then the command:
mount -t minix /dev/fd0 /<mount point>
should work.
7. Kernel
7.1. Copying Kernel to Diskette
The kernel is added to a boot/root diskette by mounting the diskette
containing a file system, and copying the kernel with the cp command,
using a command like:
cp <kernel file> /dev/fd0
For example:
mount -t minix /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp Image /mnt
or
cp Image /dev/fd0
7.2. Building a Custom Kernel
In most cases it would be possible to copy your current kernel and
boot the diskette from that. However there are a few reasons why you
should build one specifically for boot/root use.
The main reason is size. You need to preserve the maximum possible
amount of free space on the diskette. Since the kernel is one of the
largest files in a minimum system, this means shrinking the kernel as
much as possible.
There are two ways of reducing kernel size:
o Building it with the minumum set of facilities necessary to support
the desired system. This means leaving out everything you don't
need. Networking is a good thing to leave out, as well as support
for any disk drives and other devices which you don't need when
running your boot/root system.
o Compressing it, using the standard compressed-kernel option
included in the makefile:
make zImage
Refer to the documentation incleded with the kernel source for up-to-
date information on building compressed kernels. Note that the kernel
source is usually in /usr/src/linux.
Having worked out a minimum set of facilities to include in a kernel,
you then need to work out what to add back in. Probably the most
common uses for a boot/root diskette system would be to examine and
restore a corrupted root file system, and to do this you may need
kernel support.
For example, if your backups are all held on tape using Ftape to
access your tape drive, then, if you lose your current root drive and
drives containing Ftape, then you will not be able to restore from
your backup tapes. You will have to resistall Linux, download and
reinstall Ftape, and then try and read your backups.
It is probably desirable to maintain a copy of the same version of
backup utilities used to write the backups, so that you don't waste
time trying to install versions that cannot read your backup tapes.
The point here is that, whatever I/O support you have added to your
kernel to support backups should also be added into your boot/root
kernel. Note, though, that the Ftape module (or at least the one I
have) is quite large and will not fit on your boot/root diskette. You
will need to put it on a utility diskette - this is described below in
the section titled "ADDING UTILITY DISKETTES".
The procedure for actually building the kernel is described in the
documentation that comes with the kernel. It is quite easy to follow,
so start by looking in /usr/src/linux. Note that if you have trouble
building a kernel, then you should probably not attempt to build
boot/root systems anyway.
8. Devices
A /dev directory containing a special file for all devices to be used
by the system is mandatory for any Linux system. The directory itself
is a normal directory, and can be created with the mkdir command in
the normal way. The device special files, however, must be created in
a special way, using the mknod command.
There is a shortcut, though - copy your existing /dev directory
contents, and delete the ones you don't want. The only requirement is
that you copy the device special files using the -R option. This will
copy the directory without attempting to copy the contents of the
files. Note that if you use lower caser, as in "-r", there will be a
vast difference, because you will probably end up copying the entire
contents of all of your hard disks - or at least as much of them as
will fit on a diskette! Therefore, take care, and use the command:
cp -R /dev /mnt
assuming that the diskette is mounted at /mnt.
If you want to do it the hard way, use ls -l to display the major and
minor device numbers for the devices you want, and create them on the
diskette using mknod.
9. Directories
It might be possible to get away with just /dev, /proc and /etc to run
a Linux system. I don't know - I've never tested it. However a
reasonable minimum set of directories consists of the following:
/dev
Required to perform I/O with devices
/proc
Required by the ps command
/etc
System configuration files
/bin
Utility executables considered part of the system
/lib
Shared libraries to provide run-time support
/mnt
A mount point for maintenance on other disks
/usr
Additional utilities and applications
Note that the directory tree presented here is for boot/root use only.
Refer to the Linux File System Standard for much better information on
how file systems should be structured in "standard" Linux systems.
Four of these directories can be created very easily:
o /dev is described above in the section titled DEVICES.
o /proc only needs to exist. Once the directory is created using
mkdir, nothing more is required.
o Of the others, /mnt and /usr are included in this list only as
mount points for use after the boot/root system is running. Hence
again, these directories only need to be created.
The remaining 3 directories are described in the following sections.
9.1. /etc
This directory must contain a number of configuration files. On most
systems, these can be divided into 3 groups:
o Required at all times, e.g. rc, fstab, passwd.
o May be required, but no-one is too sure.
o Junk that crept in.
On my boot/root diskettes, I have the number of config files down to
15. I know that most are required, and someday I'll get around to
working out the rest, but in the meantime, I work it by setting up the
ones I know need to be configured for a boot/root system, and simply
leaving the rest there. This reduces my work to dealing with three
sets of files:
o The ones I must configure for a boot/root system:
rc system startup script
fstab list of file systems to be mounted
inittab parameters for the init process - the
first process started at boot time.
o the ones I should tidy up for a boot/root system:
passwd list of logins
shadow contains passwords
These should be pruned on secure systems to avoid copying user's pass-
words off the system, and so that when you boot from diskette,
unwanted logins are rejected.
o The rest. They work at the moment, so I leave them alone.
Out of this, I only really have to configure two files, and what they
should contain is suprisingly small.
o rc should contain:
#!/bin/sh
/etc/mount -av
/bin/hostname boot_root
and I don't really need to run hostname - it just looks nicer if I do.
Even mount is actually only needed to mount /proc to support the ps
command - Linux will run without it.
o fstab should contain:
/dev/fd0 / minix defaults
/proc /proc proc defaults
I don't think that the first entry is really needed, but I find that
if I leave it out, mount won't mount /proc.
Inittab should be ok as is, unless you want to ensure that users on
serial ports cannot login. To prevent this, comment out all the
entries for /etc/getty which include a ttys or ttyS device at the end
of the line. Leave in the tty ports so that you can login at the
console.
For the rest, just copy all the text files in your /etc directory,
plus all the executables in your /etc directory that you cannot be
sure you do not need. As a guide, consult the sample ls listing in
"Sample Boot/Root ls-lR Directory Listing" - this is what I have, so
probably it will be sufficient for you if you copy only those files.
9.2. /bin
Here is a convenient point to place the extra utilities you need to
perform basic operations, utilities such as ls, mv, cat, dd etc.
See the section titled "Sample Boot/Root ls-lR Directory Listing" for
the list of files that I place in my boot/root /bin directory. You may
notice that it does not include any of the utilities required to check
file systems or restore from backup, such as fsck, cpio, tar, gzip
etc. That is because I place these on a separate utility diskette, to
save space on the boot/root diskette. Once I have booted my boot/root
diskette, it then copies itself to the ramdisk leaving the diskette
drive free to mount another diskette, the utility diskette. I usually
mount this as /usr.
Creation of a utility diskette is described below in the section
titled "Adding Utility Diskettes".
9.3. /lib
Two libraries are required to run many facilities under Linux:
o ld.so
o libc.so.4
If they are not found in your /lib directory then the system will be
unable to boot. If you're lucky you may see an error message telling
you why.
These should be present in you existing /lib directory. Note that
libc.so.4 may be a symlink to a libc library with version number in
the filename. If you issue the command:
ls -l /lib
you will see something like:
libc.so.4 -> libc.so.4.5.21
In this case, the libc library you want is libc.so.4.5.21.
10. LILO
For the boot/root to be any use, it must be bootable. To achieve this,
the easiest way (possibly the only way?) is to install a boot loader,
which is a piece of executable code stored at sector 0, cylinder 0 of
the diskette. See the section above titled "BOOT DISKETTE" for an
overview of the boot process.
LILO is a tried and trusted boot loader available from any Linux
mirror site. It allows you to configure the boot loader, including:
o Which device is to be mounted as the root drive.
o Whether to use a ramdisk.
This provides a very convenient place to specify to the kernel how it
should boot. My root/boot LILO configuration file, used with LILO
0.15, is:
______________________________________________________________________
boot = /dev/fd0
install = /boot/boot.b
compact
image = ./mnt/Image
ramdisk = 1440
root = /dev/fd0
______________________________________________________________________
I run lilo using the command:
/sbin/lilo -C <configfile>
I run it from the directory containing the mnt directory where I have
mounted the diskette. This means that I am telling LILO to install a
boot loader on the boot device (/dev/fd0 in this case), to boot a
kernel in the root directory of the diskette.
I have also specified that I want the root device to be the diskette,
and I want a RAM disk created of 1440 1K blocks, the same size as the
diskette. Since I have created a minix file system on the diskette,
this completes all the conditions required for Linux to automatically
switch the root device to the ramdisk, and copy the diskette contents
there as well.
The ramdisk features of Linux are described further in the section
above titled "RAM DRIVES AND BOOT/ROOT SYSTEMS".
It is also worth considering using the "single" parameter to cause
Linux to boot in single-user mode. This could be useful to prevent
users logging in on serial ports.
Readers are urged to read the LILO documentation carefully before
atttempting to install anything. It is relatively easy to destroy
partitions if you use the wrong "boot = " parameter. If you are
inexperienced, do NOT run LILO until you are sure you understand it
and you have triple-checked your parameters.
One other thing I might as well add here while I'm on the LILO topic:
if you mess up lilo on a drive containing DOS, you can always replace
the boot sector with the DOS boot loader by issuing the DOS command:
FDISK /MBR
where MBR stands for "Master Boot Record". Note that some purists
disagree with this, and they may have grounds, but it works.
11. Making Extra Copies of Bootable Diskettes
It is never desirable to have just one set of rescue disks - 2 or 3
should be kept in case one is unreadable.
The easiest way of making copies of any diskettes, including bootable
and utility diskettes, is to use the dd command to copy the contents
of the original diskette to a file on your hard drive, and then use
the same command to copy the file back to a new diskette. Note that
you do not need to, and should not, mount the diskettes, because dd
uses the raw device interface.
To copy the original, enter the command:
dd if=<device> of=<filename>
where <device> = the device name of the diskette
drive
and <filename> = the name of the file where you
want to copy to
For example, to copy from /dev/fd0 to a temporary file called
/tmp/diskette.copy, I would enter the command:
dd if=/dev/fd0 /tmp/diskette.copy
Omitting the "count" parameter, as we have done here, means that the
whole diskette of 2880 (for a high-density) blocks will be copied.
To copy the resulting file back to a new diskette, insert the new
diskette and enter the reverse command:
dd if=<filename> of=<device>
12. Adding Utility Diskettes
Often one disk is not sufficient to hold all the software you need to
be able to perform rescue functions of analysing, repairing and
restoring corrupted disk drives. By the time you include tar, gzip
e2fsck, fdisk, Ftape and so on, there is enough for a whole new
diskette, maybe even more if you want lots of tools.
This means that a rescue set often requires a utility diskette, with a
file system containing any extra files required. This file system can
then be mounted at a convenient point, such as /usr, on the boot/root
system.
Creating a file system is fairly easy, and is described above in the
section titled "File Systems" above.
13. Sample Boot/Root ls-lR Directory Listing
This lists the contents of files and directories that I keep on my
hard disk to use when building boot/root and utility diskettes. It
shows which files I put in the /etc and /bin directories on my
diskettes.
The sample shell scripts in the next section use these directories and
files as a model to build the diskettes.
The boot/root listing is of directory boot_disk:
total 226
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 223748 Oct 5 18:25 Image
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Oct 8 13:40 bin/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 3072 Sep 8 16:37 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Oct 8 12:38 etc/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Sep 10 14:58 lib/
boot_disk/bin:
total 366
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4376 Sep 9 21:34 cat*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4112 Sep 9 21:34 chown*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 12148 Sep 9 21:34 cp*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4376 Sep 9 21:34 cut*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7660 Sep 9 21:34 dd*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4696 Sep 9 21:34 df*
-rwx--x--x 1 root root 1392 Sep 10 14:13 hostname*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5252 Sep 9 21:34 ln*
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 6636 Sep 9 21:34 login*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13252 Sep 9 21:34 ls*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4104 Sep 9 21:34 mkdir*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 21504 Sep 10 15:27 more*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6744 Sep 9 21:34 mv*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9780 Sep 9 21:34 ps*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5076 Sep 9 21:34 rm*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 12604 Sep 9 21:34 sed*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 222208 Sep 9 21:34 sh*
-rws--x--x 1 root root 16464 Sep 9 21:34 su*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1216 Sep 9 21:34 sync*
boot_disk/dev:
total 73
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8331 Sep 8 16:31 MAKEDEV*
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 10, 3 Sep 8 16:31 bmouseatixl
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 10, 0 Sep 8 16:31 bmouselogitec
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 10, 2 Sep 8 16:31 bmousems
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 10, 1 Sep 8 16:31 bmouseps2
crw------- 1 root root 0, 0 Sep 8 16:31 boot0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 0 Sep 8 16:31 console
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 64 Sep 8 16:31 cua0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 65 Sep 8 16:31 cua1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 66 Sep 8 16:31 cua2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 67 Sep 8 16:31 cua3
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 0 Sep 8 16:31 fd0
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 12 Sep 8 16:31 fd0D360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 16 Sep 8 16:31 fd0D720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 28 Sep 8 16:31 fd0H1440
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 12 Sep 8 16:31 fd0H360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 16 Sep 8 16:31 fd0H720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 16 Sep 8 16:31 fd0Q720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 4 Sep 8 16:31 fd0d360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 8 Sep 8 16:31 fd0h1200
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 20 Sep 8 16:31 fd0h360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 24 Sep 8 16:31 fd0h720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 24 Sep 8 16:31 fd0q720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 1 Sep 8 16:31 fd1
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 13 Sep 8 16:31 fd1D360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 17 Sep 8 16:31 fd1D720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 29 Sep 8 16:31 fd1H1440
brw------- 1 root root 2, 31 Sep 8 16:31 fd1H1722
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 13 Sep 8 16:31 fd1H360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 17 Sep 8 16:31 fd1H720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 17 Sep 8 16:31 fd1Q720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 5 Sep 8 16:31 fd1d360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 9 Sep 8 16:31 fd1h1200
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 21 Sep 8 16:31 fd1h360
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 25 Sep 8 16:31 fd1h720
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 2, 25 Sep 8 16:31 fd1q720
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 0 Sep 8 16:31 hda
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 1 Sep 8 16:31 hda1
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 2 Sep 8 16:31 hda2
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 3 Sep 8 16:31 hda3
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 4 Sep 8 16:31 hda4
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 5 Sep 8 16:31 hda5
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 6 Sep 8 16:31 hda6
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 7 Sep 8 16:31 hda7
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 8 Sep 8 16:31 hda8
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 64 Sep 8 16:31 hdb
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 65 Sep 8 16:31 hdb1
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 66 Sep 8 16:31 hdb2
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 67 Sep 8 16:31 hdb3
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 68 Sep 8 16:31 hdb4
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 69 Sep 8 16:31 hdb5
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 70 Sep 8 16:31 hdb6
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 71 Sep 8 16:31 hdb7
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 72 Sep 8 16:31 hdb8
crw-r----- 1 root root 1, 2 Sep 8 16:31 kmem
brw------- 1 root root 12, 0 Sep 8 16:31 loop0
brw------- 1 root root 12, 1 Sep 8 16:31 loop1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 6, 0 Sep 8 16:31 lp0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 6, 1 Sep 8 16:31 lp1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 6, 2 Sep 8 16:31 lp2
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 12, 0 Sep 8 16:31 mcd0
crw-r----- 1 root root 1, 1 Sep 8 16:31 mem
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 65 Sep 8 16:31 modem
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 64 Sep 8 16:31 mouse
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 4 Sep 8 16:31 nrft0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 5 Sep 8 16:31 nrft1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 6 Sep 8 16:31 nrft2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 7 Sep 8 16:31 nrft3
crw------- 1 root root 9, 128 Sep 8 16:31 nrmt0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 1, 3 Sep 8 16:31 null
crw-r----- 1 root root 6, 0 Sep 8 16:31 par0
crw-r----- 1 root root 6, 1 Sep 8 16:31 par1
crw-r----- 1 root root 6, 2 Sep 8 16:31 par2
crw-r----- 1 root root 1, 4 Sep 8 16:31 port
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 10, 1 Sep 8 16:31 ps2aux
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 128 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 129 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 130 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 131 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp3
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 132 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp4
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 133 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp5
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 134 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp6
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 135 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp7
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 136 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp8
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 137 Sep 8 16:31 ptyp9
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 138 Sep 8 16:31 ptypa
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 139 Sep 8 16:31 ptypb
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 140 Sep 8 16:31 ptypc
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 141 Sep 8 16:31 ptypd
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 142 Sep 8 16:31 ptype
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 143 Sep 8 16:31 ptypf
brw-r----- 1 root root 1, 0 Sep 8 16:31 ram
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 0 Sep 8 16:31 rft0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 1 Sep 8 16:31 rft1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 2 Sep 8 16:31 rft2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 27, 3 Sep 8 16:31 rft3
crw------- 1 root root 9, 0 Sep 8 16:31 rmt0
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 0 Sep 8 16:31 sda
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 1 Sep 8 16:31 sda1
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 2 Sep 8 16:31 sda2
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 3 Sep 8 16:31 sda3
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 4 Sep 8 16:31 sda4
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 5 Sep 8 16:31 sda5
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 6 Sep 8 16:31 sda6
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 7 Sep 8 16:31 sda7
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 8 Sep 8 16:31 sda8
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 16 Sep 8 16:31 sdb
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 17 Sep 8 16:31 sdb1
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 18 Sep 8 16:31 sdb2
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 19 Sep 8 16:31 sdb3
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 20 Sep 8 16:31 sdb4
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 21 Sep 8 16:31 sdb5
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 22 Sep 8 16:31 sdb6
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 23 Sep 8 16:31 sdb7
brw-r----- 1 root root 8, 24 Sep 8 16:31 sdb8
brw------- 1 root root 8, 32 Sep 8 16:31 sdc
brw------- 1 root root 8, 33 Sep 8 16:31 sdc1
brw------- 1 root root 8, 34 Sep 8 16:31 sdc2
brw------- 1 root root 8, 35 Sep 8 16:31 sdc3
brw------- 1 root root 8, 36 Sep 8 16:31 sdc4
brw------- 1 root root 8, 37 Sep 8 16:31 sdc5
brw------- 1 root root 8, 38 Sep 8 16:31 sdc6
brw------- 1 root root 8, 39 Sep 8 16:31 sdc7
brw------- 1 root root 8, 40 Sep 8 16:31 sdc8
brw------- 1 root root 8, 48 Sep 8 16:31 sdd
brw------- 1 root root 8, 49 Sep 8 16:31 sdd1
brw------- 1 root root 8, 50 Sep 8 16:31 sdd2
brw------- 1 root root 8, 51 Sep 8 16:31 sdd3
brw------- 1 root root 8, 52 Sep 8 16:31 sdd4
brw------- 1 root root 8, 53 Sep 8 16:31 sdd5
brw------- 1 root root 8, 54 Sep 8 16:31 sdd6
brw------- 1 root root 8, 55 Sep 8 16:31 sdd7
brw------- 1 root root 8, 56 Sep 8 16:31 sdd8
brw------- 1 root root 8, 64 Sep 8 16:31 sde
brw------- 1 root root 8, 65 Sep 8 16:31 sde1
brw------- 1 root root 8, 66 Sep 8 16:31 sde2
brw------- 1 root root 8, 67 Sep 8 16:31 sde3
brw------- 1 root root 8, 68 Sep 8 16:31 sde4
brw------- 1 root root 8, 69 Sep 8 16:31 sde5
brw------- 1 root root 8, 70 Sep 8 16:31 sde6
brw------- 1 root root 8, 71 Sep 8 16:31 sde7
brw------- 1 root root 8, 72 Sep 8 16:31 sde8
brw-r--r-- 1 root root 11, 0 Sep 8 16:31 sr0
brw-r----- 1 root root 11, 1 Sep 8 16:31 sr1
brw-r----- 1 root root 11, 2 Sep 8 16:31 sr2
brw-r----- 1 root root 3, 1 Sep 8 16:31 swap
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 5, 0 Sep 8 16:31 tty
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 0 Sep 8 16:31 tty0
crw------- 1 root root 4, 1 Sep 8 16:31 tty1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 2 Sep 8 16:31 tty2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Sep 8 16:31 tty21
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 3 Sep 8 16:31 tty3
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 4 Sep 8 16:31 tty4
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 5 Sep 8 16:31 tty5
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 6 Sep 8 16:31 tty6
crw------- 1 root root 4, 7 Sep 8 16:31 tty7
crw------- 1 root root 4, 8 Sep 8 16:31 tty8
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 64 Sep 8 16:31 ttyS0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 65 Sep 8 16:31 ttyS1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 66 Sep 8 16:31 ttyS2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 192 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 193 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp1
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 194 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp2
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 195 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp3
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 196 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp4
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 197 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp5
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 198 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp6
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 199 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp7
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 200 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp8
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 201 Sep 8 16:31 ttyp9
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 202 Sep 8 16:31 ttypa
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 203 Sep 8 16:31 ttypb
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 204 Sep 8 16:31 ttypc
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 205 Sep 8 16:31 ttypd
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 206 Sep 8 16:31 ttype
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 207 Sep 8 16:31 ttypf
-rw------- 1 root root 63488 Sep 8 16:31 ttys0
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 4, 67 Sep 8 16:31 ttys3
crw-r--r-- 1 root root 1, 5 Sep 8 16:31 zero
boot_disk/etc:
total 173
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 53 Sep 8 18:48 boot.env
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27408 Sep 8 18:48 e2fsck*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18540 Sep 8 18:48 fdisk*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 69 Oct 8 12:27 fstab
-r-x------ 1 root root 13312 Sep 8 18:48 getty*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 334 Sep 8 18:48 group
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12 Sep 8 18:48 host.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 62 Sep 8 18:48 hosts
-r-x------ 1 root root 6684 Sep 8 18:48 ifconfig*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11492 Sep 8 18:48 init*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1017 Sep 9 22:12 inittab
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Oct 8 12:19 issue
-rw-r----- 1 root root 5137 Sep 8 18:48 login.defs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 14028 Sep 8 18:48 mke2fs*
-rwxr-x--- 1 root root 2436 Sep 8 18:48 mkswap*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 11288 Sep 8 18:48 mount*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 327 Sep 8 18:48 passwd
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 383 Sep 10 16:02 profile*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 94 Sep 8 18:48 protocols
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 334 Oct 8 12:27 rc*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9220 Sep 8 18:48 reboot*
-r-x------ 1 root root 4092 Sep 8 18:48 route*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Sep 8 18:48 securetty
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9749 Sep 8 18:48 services
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 36 Sep 8 18:48 shells
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13316 Sep 8 18:48 shutdown*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2496 Sep 8 18:48 swapoff*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2496 Sep 8 18:48 swapon*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5314 Sep 8 18:48 termcap
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5412 Sep 8 18:48 umount*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 224 Sep 8 18:48 utmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 280 Sep 8 18:48 wtmp
boot_disk/lib:
total 629
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 17412 Sep 10 14:58 ld.so*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 623620 Sep 8 18:33 libc.so.4*
The utility listing is of directory util_disk:
total 1
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Sep 10 16:05 bin/
util_disk/bin:
total 897
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 41984 Sep 10 14:11 cpio*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 37892 Sep 10 15:54 e2fsck*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 504451 Sep 9 21:39 ftape.o*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 63874 Sep 9 21:40 gzip*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13316 Sep 9 21:34 insmod*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 58 Sep 9 21:34 lsmod*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 21508 Sep 10 15:55 mke2fs*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3288 Sep 9 21:34 mknod*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9220 Sep 9 21:34 rmmod*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 226308 Sep 9 22:13 tar*
14. Sample Shell Scripts to Build Diskettes
There are two shell scripts:
o mkboot - builds a boot/root diskette.
o mkutil - builds a utility diskette.
Both are currently configured to run in the parent directory of
boot_disk and util_disk, each of which contains everything to be
copied to it's diskette. Note that these shell scripts will *NOT*
automatically set up and copy all the files for you - you work out
which files are needed, set up the directories and copy the files to
those directories. The shell scripts are samples which will copy the
contents of those directories. Note that they are primitive shell
scripts and are not meant for the novice user.
The scripts both contain configuration variables at the start which
allow them to be easily configured to run anywhere. First, set up the
model directories and copy all the required files into them. Then
check the configuration variables in the shell scripts and change them
as required before running the scripts.
14.1. mkboot - Make Boot/Root Diskette
______________________________________________________________________
# mkboot: make a boot/root disk - creates a boot/root diskette
# by building a file system on it, then mounting it and
# copying required files from a model.
# Note: the model to copy from from must first be set up,
# then change the configuration variables below to suit
# your system.
# Copyright (c) Graham Chapman 1995.
# Permission is granted for this material to be freely
# used and distributed, provided the source is acknowledged.
# No warranty of any kind is provided. You use this material
# at your own risk.
# Configuration variables...
BOOTDISKDIR=./boot_disk # name of boot disk directory
MOUNTPOINT=./mnt # temporary mount point for diskette
LILODIR=/etc/lilo # directory containing lilo
LILOCONFIG=./boot.lilo.config # lilo parms for boot/root diskette
DISKETTEDEV=/dev/fd0 # device name of diskette drive
echo $0: create boot/root diskette
echo Warning: data on diskette will be overwritten!
echo Insert diskette in $DISKETTEDEV and and press any key...
read anything
mkfs $DISKETTEDEV 1440
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo mkfs failed
exit
fi
mount -t minix $DISKETTEDEV $MOUNTPOINT
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo mount failed
exit
fi
# copy the directories containing files
for i in bin etc lib
do
cp -r $BOOTDISKDIR/$i $MOUNTPOINT
done
# copy dev *without* trying to copy the files in it
cp -R $BOOTDISKDIR/dev $MOUNTPOINT
# create empty directories required
mkdir $MOUNTPOINT/proc
mkdir $MOUNTPOINT/tmp
mkdir $MOUNTPOINT/mnt
mkdir $MOUNTPOINT/usr
# copy the kernel
cp $BOOTDISKDIR/Image $MOUNTPOINT
# setup lilo
$LILODIR/lilo -C $LILOCONFIG
umount $MOUNTPOINT
______________________________________________________________________
14.2. mkutil - Make Utility Diskette
______________________________________________________________________
# mkutil: make a utility diskette - creates a utility diskette
# by building a file system on it, then mounting it and
# copying required files from a model.
# Note: the model to copy from from must first be set up,
# then change the configuration variables below to suit
# your system.
# Copyright (c) Graham Chapman 1995.
# Permission is granted for this material to be freely
# used and distributed, provided the source is acknowledged.
# No warranty of any kind is provided. You use this material
# at your own risk.
# Configuration variables...
UTILDISKDIR=./util_disk # name of directory containing model
MOUNTPOINT=./mnt # temporary mount point for diskette
DISKETTEDEV=/dev/fd0 # device name of diskette drive
echo $0: create utility diskette
echo Warning: data on diskette will be overwritten!
echo Insert diskette in $DISKETTEDEV and and press any key...
read anything
mkfs $DISKETTEDEV 1440
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo mkfs failed
exit
fi
# Any file system type would do here
mount -t minix $DISKETTEDEV $MOUNTPOINT
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo mount failed
exit
fi
# copy the directories containing files
cp -r $UTILDISKDIR/bin $MOUNTPOINT
umount $MOUNTPOINT
echo Utility diskette complete
______________________________________________________________________
15. Further Information
In this section, vvv is used in package names in place of the version,
to avoid referring here to specific versions. When retrieving a
package, always get the latest version unless you have good reasons
for not doing so.
15.1. LILO - Linux Loader
Written by Werner Almesberger. Excellent boot loader, and the
documentation includes information on the boot sector contents and the
early stages of the boot process.
Ftp from: tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/lilo/lilo.vvv.tar.gz also
on sunsite and mirror sites.
15.2. Rescue Shell Scripts
Written by Thomas Heiling. This contains shell scripts to produce boot
and boot/root diskettes. It has some dependencies on specific versions
of other software such as LILO, and so might need some effort to
convert to your system, but it might be useful as a starting point if
you wanted more comprehensive shell scripts than are provided in this
document.
Ftp from: sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/system/Recovery/rescue.tgz
15.3. SAR - Search and Rescue
Written by Karel Kubat. SAR produces a rescue diskette, using several
techniques to minimize the space required on the diskette. The manual
includes a description of the Linux boot/login process.
Ftp from: ftp.icce.rug.nl:/pub/unix/SAR-vvv.tar.gz
The manual is available via WWW from:
http://www.icce.rug.nl/karel/programs/SAR.html
15.4. Linux FAQ and HOWTOs
These are available from many sources. Look at the usenet newsgroups
news.answers and comp.os.linux.announce.
Ftp from: sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs
o FAQ is in /pub/linux/docs/faqs/linux-faq
o HOWTOs are in /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
If desperate, send mail to:
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
with the word "help" in the message, then follow the mailed
instructions.
Note: if you haven't read the Linux FAQ and related documents such as
the Linux Installation HOWTO and the Linux Install Guide, then you
should not be trying to build boot diskettes.
16. Change History
v1.0, 2 January, 1995
o Converted to conform to HOWTO documentation standards.
o Added new section - Change History.
o Various minor corrections.
v0.10, 1 November, 1994 Original version, labelled "draft".
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