1. Introduction

1.1 Why Build Boot Disks?

Linux boot disks are useful in a number of situations, such as:

• Testing a new kernel.
• Recovering from disk or system failure. Such a failure could be anything from a lost boot sector to a disk head crash.

There are several ways of producing boot disks:

• Use one from a distribution such as Slackware. This will at least allow you to boot.
• Use a rescue package to set up disks designed to be used as rescue disks.
• Learn what is required for each of the various types of disk to operate, then build your own.

I originally chose the last option - learn how it works so that you can do it yourself. That way, if something breaks, you can work out what to do to fix it. Plus you learn a lot about how Linux works along the way. Once I understood how it all worked, then I changed to using the Bootkit rescue package to maintain my boot disks.

Experienced Linux users may find little of use in this document. However users new to Linux system administration who wish to protect against root disk loss and other mishaps may find it useful.

A note on versions - this document has been updated to support the following packages and versions:

• Linux 1.99.9
• LILO 0.19

Copyright (c) Tom Fawcett and Graham Chapman 1996.

Permission is granted for this material to be freely used and distributed, provided the source is acknowledged. The copyright conditions are intended to be no more restrictive than version 2 of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation.

No warranty of any kind is provided. You use this material at your own risk.

1.2 Feedback and Credits

The technical content of this HOWTO is now provided by Tom Fawcett fawcett@nynexst.com. Graham Chapman grahamc@zeta.org.au is the original author and current editor.

We welcome any feedback, good or bad, on the content of this document. Please let us know if you find any errors or omissions. Send comments, corrections and questions to Tom at fawcett@nynexst.com.

I thank the following people for correcting errors and providing useful suggestions for improvement:

        Randolph Bentson
        Grant R. Bowman
        Scott Burkett
        Bruce Elliot
        HARIGUCHI Youichi
        Bjxrn-Helge Mevik
        Dwight Spencer
        Cameron Spitzer
        Johannes Stille

1.3 Change History

v2.0, 12 June 1996. Changes in this version:

• Add: additional author and maintainer, Tom Fawcett.
• Add: section 6.3, Ramdisk Usage.
• Add: section titled Advanced Bootdisk Creation, which describes how to take advantage of ramdisk changes in kernels 1.3.48+
• Chg: rewrite section on /lib directory.
• Chg: various minor tips on changed ramdisk usage.

Version history:

• v1.02, 25 June 1995 - minor changes.
• v1.01, 6 February 1995 - minor changes.
• v1.0, 2 January 1995 - first release in standard HOWTO layout.
• v0.10, 1 Novemer 1994 - original version, labelled "Draft".