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The Linux kernel used to be a bootable MBR image, but I believe support for this was removed at some point. I used to build custom Linux kernels for rescue flo
by newnewpdro 7y ago
The Linux kernel used to be a bootable MBR image, but I believe support for this was removed at some point.
I used to build custom Linux kernels for rescue floppies that had no boot loader and a bundled rescue initramfs at an ISP back in the late 90s. They booted very quickly despite being 3.5" floppy disks, it was kind of epic for the time.
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux-i386-Boot-Code-HOWTO/bootsect.html http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux-i386-Boot-Code-HOWTO/bootsect.ht...
Edit: It looks like 2.6.23 is when it vanished as part of the arch/i386/* -> arch/x86/* migration:
Present @ 2.6.22:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/i386/boot/bootsect.S?h=v2.6.22 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin...
Gone in 2.6.23:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/arch/i386/boot/?h=v2.6.23 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin...