Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> The boot sector is really only part of one sector. That doesn't seem 
>>> like enough room to write code to find NTLDR or whatever the second 
>>> step of Linux boot code is (GRUB I assume, or LILO). Especially given 
>>> the wide range of partition types and RAID types a boot partition is 
>>> allowed to be on in Linux.
>>>
>>> How does it fit enough of the file system code into the boot 
>>> mechanism to find the files it needs? Is there something special, 
>>> such that (say) copying the file to a different place on the disk 
>>> would keep things from booting?
>>
>>
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Bootstrap-tricks.html
>> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Images.html
>>
>> I know from experience that moving stuff around on the boot partition 
>> can break GRUB.
> 
> So the location of the real meat is hard-coded into the MBR. Neat...
> 


He beat me to it.

Yes, the MBR's job is only to load the real boot code.


I've never dug enough into it, but I've always been interested in what 
calls the MBR has to make to load sectors and what not.

Those are calls that I could have access to to make my own boot junk.

I wish I had more time.....



Tom

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