What is kexec-loader?
kexec-loader is a Linux based bootloader that uses kexec to start the kernel of your choice. It fits on a 1.44MB floppy, supports most block devices supported by Linux and is easy to use. kexec-loader supports reading GRUB configuration files, this allows kexec-loader to be used as a drop-in replacement for GRUB by merely setting the GRUB installation path.
kexec-loader is aimed at people who wish to boot Linux or any other kernel supported by multiboot off a device which the BIOS does not support. For example, you may wish to use it to boot from a CD-ROM drive or USB Hard Disk that the BIOS can not boot from for whatever reason.
If you want to request a feature or have found a bug, don't hesitate to post it to the bug tracker, for anything else, email me at solemnwarning@solemnwarning.net.
It is a complete rewrite of kexec-loader which fixes many design flaws and bugs which appeared due to design changes over the past year.
rewrite-r478.img.gz
It crashes if you press enter in the shell without typing a command (irony!), but that's fixed in SVN, if you find any other bugs or have a suggestion, please email me.
If you've not already done so, READ THE POST BELOW THIS ONE!
rootfs /dev/sda1
mount /dev/sda2 /initrd
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /initrd/initrd.gz
would become:
kernel (sda1)/boot/vmlinuz
initrd (sda2)/initrd.gz
I can see the following pros/cons in this approach:
Pros:
Slightly simler to use.
Much cleaner code.
Cons:
Relative symlinks between filesystems cannot be used, although these are probably rare anyway.
Please email me (solemnwarning@solemnwarning.net) with your thoughts on this change, if I don't any arguments for keeping the current code I will start changing it after 2009-01-20.
