The Kernel gets this info at compile-time, it is only overridable by a
kernel-argument ("root=..."), this is what lilo does.
If you want to change this so called "root-device" inside the kernel,
you should take a look at the tool "rdev" and its man-page.
I had the same problem some time ago as i wanted to build a
boot-diskette without any loader like lilo or loadlin, etc.
As the kernel contains an i386 bootsector, it should be able to boot
itself if it is copied on a diskette and the bios jumps to its
begin...but then you cannot say the kernel, where the root-filesystem
is, so you have to change the root-device inside the compiled kernel,
and this does "rdev".
Unfortunately, it did not work for me, so i switched back to
loadlin...:-((...but i tried it only one time, perhaps *i* made a
mistake and not the tool...:-)
Solong..
Frank.
-- Frank Schneider, <SPATZ1@T-ONLINE.DE>. Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO. ... -.- - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/