Jean-Louis Debert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> "S. Newhouse" wrote:
> > The scsi support is loaded as a module right after boot time.
>
> Sorry, this is _not_ possible, never has been with linux,
> with drivers needed at _boot_ time.
false
> For linux to boot you need _at least_ the driver for the
> physical device _and_ the filesystem for your root device
> to be built into the kernel (_not_ as a module).
false
> I am not making this up, read again the documentation
> about kernel modules in the kernel source tree ...
>
> > I have installed several versions of Mandrake on sytems with
> > only scsi disks. They work just fine without rebuilding
> > the kernel.
>
> It just shows that the install selected a kernel _with_
> SCSI support built-in.
false
> This will work, but since there are
> far less distribution kernels than possible scsi adapters,
> there might be _a lot_ of drivers in that kernel,
the install kernel is currently 391728 bytes. Is that big?
> and it
> might be a little bloated (not to say anything of possible
> autoprobing hangs ...) so it is _always_ a good idea to
> re-compile your own kernel after install, so that to have
> only drivers you actually use.
not a good idea.
Here is how a kernel *without scsi boot on an scsi disk:
- the bios knows how to handle scsi, it loads the first sector of the disk, aka
lilo
- lilo loads its second stage using the bios
- lilo loads the kernel using the bios
- lilo loads the initrd using the bios
- lilo gives the hand to the kernel. The initrd is loaded in memory at that time
and accessible by the kernel
- the kernel uses the initrd as its root
- the initrd loads the scsi module and leaves
- the kernel mounts the real root
cu Pixel.
