Difference between revisions of "Common Problems"

Revision as of 23:52, 1 August 2007

Watch the name of your kernel

The single most common user error is setting up a kernel configuration which uses one of the reserved extensions:

 none or other Linux kernel image
 .0            PXE bootstrap program (NBP) [PXELINUX only]
 .bin          "CD boot sector" [ISOLINUX only]
 .bs           Boot sector [SYSLINUX only]
 .bss          Boot sector, DOS superblock will be patched in [SYSLINUX only]
 .c32          COM32 image (32-bit COMBOOT)
 .cbt          COMBOOT image (not runnable from DOS)
 .com          COMBOOT image (runnable from DOS)
 .img          Disk image [ISOLINUX only]

Especially the .0 extension bites a lot of people (calling your kernel "redhat-9.0", for example.) Please double-check this carefully.

It is unfortunate that there isn't a standard extension used for Linux kernels, and that none of the commonly loaded data formats (except perhaps COM32) have reliable magic numbers. If you want to name your kernel images something that will avoid confusion, I suggest using the extension .zi (zImage/bzImage).

What's the real name of that kernel?

When using SYSLINUX or ISOLINUX, make sure that the real name of the kernel is the one you actually specify.

For SYSLINUX, the "real" name is the MS-DOS name, not a VFAT long filename. To verify the real name, you can mount your disk or disk image with, for example:

mount [-r] -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy 
-t msdos will prevent "long names" from showing up. 

Note, in particular, that writing the filesystem with VFAT or UMSDOS enabled will produce very weird names unless they are already entered as valid 8.3 DOS filenames.

For ISOLINUX, the "real" name is the ISO 9660 filename, not a RockRidge or Joliet filename. To verify the real name, mount your CD-ROM or iso image with, for example:

mount -r -t iso9660 -o norock,nojoliet /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom 
-t iso9660 -o norock,nojoliet will prevent "long names" from showing up. 

Please note that symbolic links are a RockRidge feature! You will find that if you mount your disk with -o norock that symbolic links show up as short files rather than as links. Therefore, you cannot reference symbolic links; however, hard links should work as expected.

Wiki navigation

• The navigation block syslinux in the left margin, misses com32.
• The navigation block <bits & bobs> in the left margin, misses a link to the SpinOff page.
• The navigation block <bits & bobs> in the left margin, misses a link to the UseCases page.

Hint: These missed Links could be added in MediaWiki:Sidebar, but only by a Wiki-Sysop :-/