LILO: The Linux Loader

In addition to booting Linux, LILO can boot other operating systems, such as Windows or any of the BSD systems. During installation, some Linux distributions provide the opportunity to install LILO (most now install GRUB by default). LILO can also be installed later if necessary. LILO can be installed on the MBR of your hard drive or as a secondary boot loader on the Linux partition. LILO consists of several pieces, including the boot loader itself, a configuration file (/etc/lilo.conf), a map file (/boot/map) containing the location of the kernel, and the lilo command (/sbin/lilo), which reads the configuration file and uses the information to create or update the map file and to install the files LILO needs.

One thing to remember about LILO is that it has two aspects: the boot loader and the lilo command. The lilo command configures and installs the boot loader and updates it as necessary. The boot loader is the code that executes at system boot time and boots Linux or another operating system.

You can make a rescue CD for LILO with the LILO command mkrescue --iso to make an image that can be burned to CD. Use mkrescue by itself or with other options to make a rescue floppy disk. See the mkrescue manpage for more information.

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