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EXTLINUX is a new syslinux derivative, which boots from a Linux
ext2/ext3 filesystem.
It works the same way as SYSLINUX, with a few slight modifications.
1. The installer is run on a *mounted* filesystem. Run the extlinux
installer on the directory in which you want extlinux installed:
extlinux /boot
NOTE: this doesn't have to be the root directory of a filesystem.
If /boot is a filesystem, you can do:
mkdir -p /boot/extlinux
extlinux /boot/extlinux
... to create a subdirectory and install extlinux in it.
2. The configuration file is called "extlinux.conf", and is expected
to be found in the same directory as extlinux is installed in.
3. Pathnames can be absolute or relative; if absolute (with a leading
slash), they are relative to the root of the filesystem on which
extlinux is installed (/boot in the example above), if relative,
they are relative to the extlinux directory.
extlinux supports subdirectories, but the total path length is
limited to 255 characters.
Note that EXTLINUX installs in the filesystem partition like a
well-behaved bootloader :) Thus, it needs a master boot record in the
partition table; the mbr.bin shipped with SYSLINUX should work well.
To install it just do:
cat mbr.bin > /dev/XXX
... where /dev/XXX is the appropriate master device, e.g. /dev/hda,
and make sure the correct partition in set active.
If you have multiple disks in a software RAID configuration, the
preferred way to boot is:
- Create a separate RAID-1 partition for /boot. Note that the Linux
RAID-1 driver can span as many disks as you wish.
- Install the MBR on *each disk*, and mark the RAID-1 partition
active.
- Run "extlinux /boot" to install extlinux. This will install it on
all the drives in the RAID-1 set, which means you can boot any
combination of drives in any order.
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