[aklug] Boot software / system software / Kernel Modules

Forgive me if I ramble a bit... but I'm still working through the
thoughts in my own mind:

One of the cool things I have been exploring about Linux is how the
/boot software/ can be distinct from the /system software/, if that
makes sense. What I mean is, you can have an entire root file system
with init scripts, coreutils, applications, user data, et cetera, et
cetera. But your boot code and core OS code, that is, your boot loader,
kernel, and initramfs can be on a totally different partition, or heck,
even a different device. And you can use what ever boot loader you want
(grub, lilo, syslinux, isolinux...) and (pretty much) what ever kernel
version you want, and your own custom-built initramfs, and yet the
system will run pretty much the same regardless once you've passed the
boot stage.

So the nice thing about this is you can administratively separate the
two: e.g., have generic boot software provided over PXEboot, but can
your specialized root system provided by NFS.

The only thing that doesn't quite fit into this nice, clean conceptual
schema: kernel modules. Kernel modules don't get installed on the boot
partition, they get installed in /lib/modules/<version-number>. So
basically, they are system software, not boot software, and so in the
end you have to keep this aspect of your system software synchronized
with you boot (and core OS) software. That is, you always need to make
sure that, if you build a new generic kernel, that each of your root
systems gets the appropriate new modules and gets them installed in the
correct place in the correctly named folder.

You can ignore the problem, of course, by compiling your kernel
statically, but then in order to make it generic enough (with all
possibly needed drivers) you end up with a kernel the size of Moby-Dick.

I know there is a lot of overlap and ambiguity in what I just wrote. But
I thought it might be worth the ridicule to see if anyone else has
thought along similar lines.

-- 
frigidcode.com
theologia.indicium.us
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