Strange booting result


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Thread: Strange booting result

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    33

    Strange booting result

    Hi all,

    I've just managed to boot a linux distro with a kernel which doesn't belong to it. Is this a freak?

    Last night I wanted to boot a recently installed Ubuntu maverick using a Grub (0.97) cd. I was a bit surprised to see Pardus boot (it's on the next partition.)

    What really surprised me was, when investigating why I couldn't get sound, was that I'm running Pardus with the Maverick kernel.
    Code:
    cam@cwpc ~ $ ls /boot
    grub                        initramfs-2.6.31.11-130  kernel-2.6.30.9-128   latest-initramfs-rt
    initramfs-2.6.29.6_23-1-rt  initramfs-2.6.31.13-131  kernel-2.6.31.11-130  latest-kernel
    initramfs-2.6.30.1-123      kernel-2.6.29.6_23-1-rt  kernel-2.6.31.13-131  latest-kernel-rt
    initramfs-2.6.30.9-128      kernel-2.6.30.1-123      latest-initramfs      memtest
    cam@cwpc ~ $ uname -a
    Linux cwpc 2.6.35-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:32:27 UTC 2010 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
    cam@cwpc ~ $ cat /etc/lsb-release
    DISTRIB_ID="Pardus"
    DISTRIB_RELEASE="2009.2"
    DISTRIB_CODENAME="Geronticus eremita"
    cam@cwpc ~ $ cat /etc/mtab
    /dev/sda22 / ext4 rw,noatime,user_xattr 0 0
    sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0
    proc /proc proc rw,noexec,nosuid 0 0
    debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw 0 0
    tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev 0 0
    /dev/sda4 /SDA4 ext3 rw,noatime 0 0
    cam@cwpc ~ $
    As can be seen from the mtab, the Pardus partition, sda22, is mounted, but not sda23 (Maverick). So presumably the kernel is running entirely in RAM - but how did it get there without mounting sda23?
    I _suppose_ I typed :
    root (hd0,22)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-generic ro root=/dev/sda22
    and not root=/dev/sda23
    But how did it manage to boot and run, and even run well? (The sound hiccough may well be ancient, incidentally, I can't remember.)

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Try BootInfoScript to see what's going on.
    "I was pulled over for speeding today. The officer said, "Don't you know
    the speed limit is 55 miles an hour?" And I said, "Yes, but I wasn't going
    to be out that long."

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Newcastle upon Tyne
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    2,978
    It is every Linux user's God given right to be able to boot a Linux B using a kernel from Linux A. Naturally mismatches can happen and some components may not work and need to be fixed. A kernel belong to the same family usually flares better.
    Linux user started Jun 2004 - No. 361921
    Using a Linux live CD to clone XP
    To install Linux and keep Windows MBR untouched
    Adding extra Linux & Doing it in a lazy way
    A Grub menu booting 100+ systems & A "Howto" to install and boot 145 systems
    Just cloning tips Just booting tips A collection of booting tips

    Judge asked Linux "You are being charged murdering Windoze by stabbing its heart with a weapon, what was it?" Replied Linux "A Live CD"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    33
    Thanks for the replies.

    @ JohnT: Yes, I have BootInfoScript - but I already knew what is in the /boot folders, and what is in fstab and menu.lst, so I didn't use it. And I don't quite see how it could explain what happened - it's a sort of a snapshot, isn't it?

    @ Saikee: Linux never stops amazing me.
    I imagine that once grub had kicked the kernel in Maverick into life, the kernel then mounted /dev/sda22 (Pardus) read-only at first, then fsck-ed and mounted whatever it found in the Pardus fstab, and continued on its merry way loading devices, drivers, and all the other good stuff. In other words, there's no further call to the kernel once it's loaded except perhaps calls such as `uname -r` in scripts. Does this sound right?

    It is every Linux user's God given right to be able to boot a Linux B using a kernel from Linux A.
    There's something noble about that, but is it useful?
    Anyway, it shows that you never stop learning with Linux, particularly with multi-booting.
    Last edited by impert; 09-30-2010 at 12:20 PM. Reason: Add verbosity

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