BootBlocks.

[walt]

talon at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Max von Seibold wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>> Does anyone know of any documentation, or howto's on configuring
>> bootblocks. I have two hard drives in my tower and have DragonFly on
>> one. I want to install debian on the second. I am familiar with GRUB but
>> cannot find anything when I google Bootblocks.
> 
> Put something like this in your grub menu.lst
> 
> # This is to boot FreeBSD
> title           FreeBSD
> root            (hd0,3)
> savedefault
> makeactive
> chainloader     +1
> boot

The method above will work, but *only* if the bootblock is
installed properly -- and I think the installation of the
bootblock is the part that Max is confused by.

I deal with bootblocks by ignoring them completely :o)

Grub will use the bootblock if you want (using the method
above) but will also bypass the bootblock completely and
load /boot/loader directly from the DragonFly filesystem:

root	(hd0,3a) #note: '3a' points to the /root partition
                 #rather than the bootblock!
kernel  /boot/loader  #'loader' then loads the real kernel

Note to Max:  You can wipe out your partition table very
easily by mistake when installing a boot block incorrectly.
Recovery is trivial *if* you take one minute to write down
your partition table on a piece of paper before you start!
You can also wipe out your grub installation, by the way,
so I always keep a grub boot floppy nearby.