<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9"> <TITLE>UMSDOS HOW-TO: Umsdos as your root partition</TITLE> <LINK HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO-4.html" REL=next> <LINK HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO-2.html" REL=previous> <LINK HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO.html#toc3" REL=contents> </HEAD> <BODY> <A HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO-4.html">Next</A> <A HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO-2.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO.html#toc3">Contents</A> <HR> <H2><A NAME="s3">3. Umsdos as your root partition</A></H2> <P> <P> <H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 The pseudo-root concept.</A> </H2> <P>With <EM>Umsdos</EM>, <EM>Linux</EM> can be installed in a standard DOS partition. <EM>Linux</EM> is then installed as a second (or third) OS in the partition. To avoid name collision (there is maybe a bin or tmp directory in the drive C: already), <EM>Umsdos</EM> use a smart trick: The pseudo-root. <P>All <EM>Linux</EM> files are installed in a DOS subdirectory called <CODE>linux</CODE>, generally <CODE>C: LINUX</CODE>. The normal <EM>Linux/Unix</EM> directory structure goes there. So you get <P> <UL> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\BIN </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\ETC </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\LIB </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\ROOT </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\SBIN </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\TMP </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\USR </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> C:\LINUX\VAR </PRE> </LI> </UL> <P>When the <EM>Umsdos</EM> boot, it probes for the directory <CODE>linux</CODE> and then <CODE>/linux/etc</CODE>. If it exist, it activates the pseudo-root mode. <P>Mostly, the pseudo-root mode switch the root of the partition to <CODE>C:\\LINUX</CODE> giving the conventional <EM>Unix</EM> directory layout <P> <UL> <LI> <PRE> /bin </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /etc </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /lib </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /root </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /sbin </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /tmp </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /usr </PRE> </LI> <LI> <PRE> /var </PRE> </LI> </UL> <P>To this list, it adds a new one called <CODE>DOS</CODE>. This one is a virtual directory. <P> <H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 Things to know about the pseudo-root</A> </H2> <P> <UL> <LI> This mode can only be triggered at boot time. There is no way to activate this by a mount command.</LI> <LI> This mechanism is purely a different view of a normal <EM>Umsdos</EM> file-system. This means that a partition normally used as a root partition can be normally mounted. There won't be any pseudo-root effect. For example, if you boot linux with a maintenance floppy and mount your normal root partition in <CODE>/mnt</CODE>, you will find all your linux directory in <CODE>/mnt/linux/bin, /mnt/linux/etc</CODE> and so on.</LI> </UL> <P> <P> <P> <HR> <A HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO-4.html">Next</A> <A HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO-2.html">Previous</A> <A HREF="UMSDOS-HOWTO.html#toc3">Contents</A> </BODY> </HTML>