LILO won't boot other OS

[luiznetto]

Hi everybody.

I am using LILO to boot Debian now. Here is my /etc/lilo.conf, which, as you probably know, is the general single configuration file for LILO:

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# /etc/lilo.conf
# Generated by me (Luiz Netto)
# Global options
lba32
#boot = /dev/sda
boot = /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BEVS-22RST0_WD-WXE108X13461
verbose = 5
map = /boot/map
install = menu
menu-scheme = Wb:Yr:Wb:Wb
prompt
timeout = 18000
vga = normal

# Kernels to boot, available on the menu:

# Debian
root = /dev/sda3
image = /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-686
initrd = /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-5-686
label = "Debian"
read-only

So far so good. It works perfectly. But the problem is, I have another operating system installed on sda1, Tiny Core to be more precise, and I want to make it available to boot on the LILO menu. Here is the present state of my hard drive:

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root@debian:/home/luiz/Debian/Debian_10/LILO# /sbin/fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 74.5 GiB, 80026361856 bytes, 156301488 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD800BEVS-22
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x61b46271

Device     Boot    Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *        2048  32770047  32768000 15.6G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       32770048  36866047   4096000    2G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3       36866048 156301311 119435264   57G 83 Linux

So Debian is on /dev/sda3, and Tiny Core on /dev/sda1. I've tried several different ways to change /etc/lilo.conf to boot Tiny Core in addition to Debian, they all failed. I had the same difficulties using Grub (legacy) and Grub2, and besides I am finding LILO convenient and easy to configure, so I want to stick to LILO.

I can boot both operating systems using GRUB2 command line, which I have on a separate disk. Here is how I boot Debian using the GRUB2 command line:

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grub> set root=(hd0,3)
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-686 root=/dev/sda3
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-5-686
grub> boot

and here is how I boot Tiny Core using the same command line:

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grub> set root=(hd0,1)
grub> linux /tce/boot/vmlinuz
grub> initrd /tce/boot/core.gz
grub> boot

Both work perfectly fine. So why can't I get LILO to do the same for me?

I want to use either LILO or Grub Legacy, I don't like Grub2 because it's bloated, hard to configure, ugly, and occupies too much space on the disk. I like the simplicity of LILO.

I've been trying to solve this problem for a long time, googling around fruitlessly; many of the posts I see are too old, don't apply to my case, are too difficult for me to understand and don't work. So I seek your help. Needless to say I will be immensely grateful to anyone who offers any valuable advice.

Thanks in advance.

[L_V]

Try this block to see:

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# Kernels to boot, available on the menu:

# Debian
root = /dev/sda3
image = /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-686
initrd = /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-5-686
label = "Debian"
read-only

# TinyCore
root = /dev/sda1
image =  /tce/boot/vmlinuz
initrd =  /tce/boot/core.gz
label = "TinyCore"
read-only

[p.H]

# Debian
root = /dev/sda3

Not good. The root specification should use a persistent scheme such as UUID= or LABEL=. /dev/sd* is not.

I've tried several different ways to change /etc/lilo.conf to boot Tiny Core in addition to Debian, they all failed.

What have you tried ? How did it fail ?

image = /tce/boot/vmlinuz
initrd = /tce/boot/core.gz

I don't think this would work. According to the GRUB 2 commands which work, the kernel image and initrd are in the /tce/boot directory relatively to /dev/sda1 root directory, although this is weird.
IIUC, /dev/sda1 should be mounted somewhere before running lilo and the path in lilo.conf should be /somewhere/tce/boot/.

[luiznetto]

pH wrote
What have you tried ? How did it fail ?

I've tried editing /etc/lilo.conf in the way suggested by L_V, and when I update the MBR by running /sbin/lilo I get an error message:

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Error: Fatal: file 'vmlinuz' not found

even though I know the file is there!
Another thing that I tried was to create symbolic links in my /boot folder (in Debian) to /dev/sda1/tce/boot/vmlinuz and /dev/sda1/tce/boot/core.gz and alter the entry for Tiny Core in /etc/lilo.conf accordingly:

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# Tiny Core
root = /dev/sda3
image = /boot/vmlinuz
initrd = /boot/core.gz
label = "Tiny Core Plus"
read-only

but when I do this and run /sbin/lilo, I get the error message:

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Error: Fatal: Too many levels of symbolic links

But according to the suggestion in this post:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... lo-294025/
I should create a directory "tinycore" under /mnt and then edit /etc/fstab and put an entry in it for the Tiny Core partition with /dev/sda1 and /mnt/tinycore (I don't know exactly how to do this), and then edit /etc/lilo.conf accordingly. I don't know if it will work.

Maybe I should try Grub Legacy instead of Lilo, maybe just editing menu.lst in Grub Legacy will work without having to edit /etc/fstab. What do you think?

[L_V]

/dev/sda1/tce/boot/vmlinuz?

No no no.
/dev/sda1 is partition 1 of device sda.
If the bootloader understands the format of this partition (linux / it should), the default mount point is "/".
To see:

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lsblk -f

1- make it simple:

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boot = /dev/sda
# boot = /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BEVS-22RST0_WD-WXE108X13461

because I am not sure at all "/dev/disk/by-id/" can be understood by lilo.

+ investigate first with sda3 only , and check again : there is no quote for label.

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# Kernels to boot, available on the menu:

# Debian
image = /boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-686
initrd = /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-5-686
label = debian
root = /dev/sda3
read-only

[p.H]

I've tried editing /etc/lilo.conf in the way suggested by L_V, and when I update the MBR by running /sbin/lilo I get an error message

As expected.

even though I know the file is there!

No, the file is not there. According to the commands which work with GRUB 2, the files are in the /tce/boot directory in partition /dev/sda1 (hd0,1). But you are running Debian so the current / directory is in partition /dev/sda3.

Maybe you are confused because the root option in lilo.conf and the root variable in GRUB have unrelated meanings.
In lilo.conf, it contains the root parameter that is to be passed to the kernel command line. So

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root = /dev/sda1
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz

will give the following kernel command line :

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/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1

In GRUB, it contains the default device used with relative paths which do not contain a device specification. So

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set root=(hd0,1)
linux /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/whatever

is the same as

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linux (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/whatever

symbolic links in my /boot folder (in Debian) to /dev/sda1/tce/boot/vmlinuz and /dev/sda1/tce/boot/core.gz

No, no. /dev/sda1 is a device file, not a directory. If you want to access a filesystem inside a partition, you must mount it on a directory (mount point) and the contents will be visible in this directory, not in the device file.

I should create a directory "tinycore" under /mnt and then edit /etc/fstab

/mnt is for temporary mounts and should not have permanent mounts defined in /etc/fstab. The mount point for /dev/sda1 should be elsewhere.

Maybe I should try Grub Legacy instead of Lilo, maybe just editing menu.lst in Grub Legacy will work without having to edit /etc/fstab. What do you think?

I think you should use GRUB 2. GRUB Legacy is obsolete and deprecated.

[oswaldkelso]

This may help
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1 ... +lilo.html

[luiznetto]

I am using Grub2 now. It's not so bad after all. Not so simple as Lilo or Grub Legacy but I can deal with it. Thanks for your help anyway.

[p.H]

I admit that GRUB 2 is complex and heavy, but it is very convenient when you are used to it.