Dual boot OpenSolaris and Linux

So I started working on OSol a little more than a month ago and realized that dual boot might be more desirable than virtualization for initial stages of my project. There is nothing that can replace a native install. So here’s an easy way that I followed for setting it up…

First install OSol on a partition of size say 20 GB. Solaris does not allow installing on anything other than the first partition, so it has to be done first. The remaining space on the disk could either be formatted with freeDOS or left unpartitioned, depending upon how much space you need for Linux.

Next, install any linux distro on the second primary partition. The thing to note here is that, since we are installing on a primary partition, the grub of Linux will not replace the one for OSol, and hence both can exist simultaneously. The bootloader will simply point to one of them (at this time it will point to the Linux one). So here’s what the partition table looks like:

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               2        1960    15735667+  bf  Solaris
/dev/sda2            1961        2222     2104515   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3   *        2223        4833    20972857+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4            4834       14593    78397200    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Command (m for help):

So when you reboot, the Linux grub will take control. But how do we boot into the OSol installation? Simple, just make the Solaris partition as bootable instead of the linux one, i.e. in this case, make /dev/sda1 active, instead of the /dev/sda3. Then reboot into Solaris and add a simple command to the /boot/grub/menu.lst, which will help you select linux from the OSol grub. (Remember by this method, after you select Linux from the OSol grub, the Linux grub will be shown, so it is possible for you to install multiple Linux or a Windows XP, in the other primary partitions – A maximum of 4 are permitted on a single hard disk).

Here’s what the menu.lst in the OpenSolaris should look like:

#---------- ADDED BY BOOTADM - DO NOT EDIT ----------
title Solaris Nevada snv_56 X86
kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot
module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive
#---------------------END BOOTADM--------------------
#---------- ADDED BY BOOTADM - DO NOT EDIT ----------
title Solaris failsafe
kernel /boot/multiboot kernel/unix -s
module /boot/x86.miniroot-safe
#---------------------END BOOTADM--------------------
#-----------ADDED BY RAHUL MURMURIA------------------
title Linux
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
#--------------------END-----------------------------

Thats all. So now we have a Dual boot ready.

Next up, setting up a good environment for working on a project like mine where gcc is a must. Also, it is long due that I report my progress on my porting project for GSoC. All this coming up shortly…

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