On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 23:31:12 -0800 (PST), sumit sahu <sahusumit2001@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Hi People, > > It wud be wonderful if someone could explain how the file system magic > number works. Reading the book 'Understanding the Linux Kernel' I learnt > that in order to mount the root file system the kernel probes all the > filesystem types which had been registered at build time. For all these FS > probed a call to the read_super function specific to the FS is made to read > the super block. But it is said that all these calls will fail except the > one for the FS type which actually has the Root FS. This they say is > identified by the Filesystem specific magic number. This went a way above my > top floor. File System's Magic numbers are simply unique integers. Ext2 File system has magic number 0xEF53 (AFAIK). > Secondly, can we have the filesystem code for the Root FS in a module or is > it to be integrated into the kernel compulsarily? > > Cheers > Sumit > Yes, root file system can be compiled as a module. -- Manish Regmi -- Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ FAQ: http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/
