Adam Williamson composed on 2015-01-22 18:39 (UTC-0800): > On Thu, 2015-01-22 at 21:21 -0500, Felix Miata wrote: >> Not mounting as boot a partition containing kernels and/or initrds in its >> root I could understand and agree with, but not forced reformatting. > As things stand anaconda just doesn't have this degree of precision. I > think I'm right in saying nothing in anaconda looks at the actual > contents of existing partitions at all. It just knows whether there's > already a filesystem on the device, and whether you're reformatting it. Even so, I don't understand what the problem is that dracut can't be limited to producing images based on /lib/modules, name matches to the installing arch, whatever is in the list of packages Anaconda has selected to install, or some other kind of matching. Simply recognizing that a filesystem is supported or not ought to be enough for it to decide if a fresh filesystem is appropriate for the little activity /boot gets. > So honestly I pretty much consider most multiboot configs more trouble > than they're worth, but what I'm not understanding from any of the > descriptions so far is what actual value you get from sharing a > partition mounted at /boot between multiple distributions? I provided no use case for sharing a /boot partition among more than one / on a multiboot system. I objected to eradicating non-conflicting subdirectories located on a filesystem proposed for use as /boot, and provided reasons supporting my objection. > The point of the partition mounted at /boot *to a Linux distribution* > is that it's where it should install its kernels and things to. Right, but I recall nothing in FHS that says an admin should have no right to store other things that do not conflict with what is expected to live there, rather like /mnt or /media. FWIW, something is putting "theme" files in /boot even though what the theme is for is not installed. Why aren't theme files for the bootloader among the places other things that use themes expect to find them? > Nothing I've seen so far actually seemed to indicate any situation > where it was useful for one distribution to be able to see another's > kernels. Neither I. > All the setups discussed so far seem to be based on the design where > you have a 'master' bootloader which chainloads each distro's own > bootloader. OK, but then what's the point of sharing or reusing a > /boot partition? Creating extra trouble potential? > I don't actually see, in your description, where you need to reuse a > /boot partition. The first OS install creates it fresh, then In my scenario, the OS installation does not create a filesystem on a /boot partition. I first create partitioning, then format partition for bootloader, put bootloader on partition, and only afterward install the first operating system. > subsequent installs don't use it - they have their /boot directories > on their root partitions. You don't actually seem to re-use the > partition you call 'realboot' in a later OS installation at all, do > you? Or am I missing a step somewhere? Maybe you skipped over #2, #3 & #4 in my list? I don't re-use *as* /boot. Use as /boot only ever happens here for the first OS installation. But, I do on occasion have use for the content I put on it both before and after the first OS installation, as well as while the first is the only, regardless of where it's mounted. For "before" it might have a rawhide directory with network installation kernel and initrd, which I would expect to use again later if I abort the installation before completion, or it aborts itself when the network goes down for several hours. I can't be the only one doing network installs without using removable media or PXE. It *does* already have a bootloader on it, and since I don't ever allow Grub2 to be installed except to a *buntu installation, Anaconda wiping mine would mean no booting HD at all, and me having to redo everything I did to get Anaconda started in the first place, after backing up what Anaconda put there, and afterward putting it back. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- test mailing list test@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/test