Re: Why can't ext4 file systems be used as a boot partition?

On Friday 18 September 2009 15:00, someone identifying as *Hans-Peter
Diettrich* wrote in /comp.os.linux.setup:/

Aragorn schrieb:

As Allen noted, the most recent versions of GRUB can handle /ext4/
filesystems, but the older versions can't, as /ext4/ is still fairly
new.

That said, there *is* an alternative, and that is to use LILO as the
bootloader instead of GRUB. GRUB loads the kernel via a filesystem
driver, but LILO does it by hardcoding the logical block offset
instead. It is totally oblivious of any filesystems and could
therefore be used with any kind of filesystem on the */boot*
partition.

Since GRUB can boot e.g. Windows systems as well - isn't there a GRUB
option, that a logical drive shall be booted in the "traditional"
(LILO) way?

I'm not sure I understand your question... :-/ Both GRUB and LILO boot
Windows in the same manner, i.e. by loading the Windows partition's
bootsector into memory and passing control of the machine onto whatever
code resides there, and this code in question would then be the Windows
bootloader.

Now, Windows traditionally requires that its bootloader be installed in
the active primary partition on the hard disk seen as the BIOS as being
the bootable one, but there are indeed tricks to fool Windows - and DOS
for that matter - into having it believe that it resides on an active
primary partition on the bootable hard disk while it in fact resides in
a logical partition in an extended partition container, yes.

While the above is perfectly possible - and has been done - I do however
wonder how one could trick Windows into being *installed* - i.e.
including its bootloader - in a logical partition of the extended
partition container. I know it has been done with Windows 98, which
was still DOS-based, but I don't see how Win98 could have been
installed in that partition, unless it was a primary partition during
Windows install time and was then converted into a logical partition in
an extended container via some very elaborate operation.

As your question was pretty vague, I'm not sure whether my reply is
adequate, though.

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
.

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