[Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

alphaniner · 2012-08-01 15:32:21

As the title says. The wiki talks about chainloading grub on another distro, but I don't have grub (or any other bootloader) installed on the other distro. I can't find a clear answer with google, much less instructions how to do it if it's possible.

To be more specific, I'm using extlinux to boot Arch with a separate /boot, and the "other distro" is entirely contained in one partition. The "other distro" is actually Arch too, so it's not so simple as just copying its kernel and initrd over to the separate /boot.

Last edited by alphaniner (2012-08-01 15:43:57)

Gusar · 2012-08-01 15:37:45

It can only load stuff that's on the same partition as itself. So if you have a /boot partition and all distros have their kernels and initramfses there, you can load them. If you don't have such a partition, you need to chainload.

alphaniner · 2012-08-01 15:43:39

Thanks for the quick response. It's not the answer I was hoping for, but at least I can move forward now.

DSpider · 2012-08-01 18:21:55

Basically you place the other distribution's kernel and initramfs on the /boot partition and duplicate the current entry from the syslinux.cfg (except with a different root and maybe a few different options on the APPEND line too).

alphaniner · 2012-08-01 19:05:26

Yeah, I've done that since my last post. The only niggle is that, both distros being Arch (the second is a minimal 'recovery' - among other things - install), the kernels names are the same. Eventually I'll need to come up with a scripted solution for that...

jjacky · 2012-08-01 19:22:26

no need for a script, just update one of your /etc/mkinitcpio.d/linux.preset and use different names for your kernel/initramfs

alphaniner · 2012-08-01 19:35:16

I'm already doing that for the initramfs. As for the kernel, if you're talking about the ALL_kver variable, it seems like modifying that would cause at least as much trouble as it solved, and I'd still need to manually rename the kernel. Thanks for the suggestion though.

ninian · 2012-08-01 20:10:16

Maybe I'm missing something, but just chainload to Syslinux installed on your other distro's partition, surely?
That's what I do on all our systems ...

alphaniner · 2012-08-01 20:29:58

Syslinux is not installed on the other distro, nor do I want it to be. A shared /boot is less offensive, despite the minor inconvenience; I was already considering it anyhow.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-08-01 15:32:21

[Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#2 2012-08-01 15:37:45

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#3 2012-08-01 15:43:39

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#4 2012-08-01 18:21:55

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#5 2012-08-01 19:05:26

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#6 2012-08-01 19:22:26

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#7 2012-08-01 19:35:16

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#8 2012-08-01 20:10:16

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

#9 2012-08-01 20:29:58

Re: [Solved]Can syslinux boot another Linux without its own bootloader?

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