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introduction

If you use Linux on a production system, you will only see it a few times a year. If you are a hobbyist who compiles many kernels or who uses many operating systems, you may see it several times per day. Of course I mean the boot loader.

There are several different ways to boot Linux and every method has specific advantages and drawbacks. Therefore it is important to know which boot loading methods exist for Linux and how they compare to each other.

We discuss only boot loaders that meet the following criteria:

We discuss the following boot loaders:

Other less well-known boot loaders do exist and may support the criteria. I know of the following:

Note: some boot loaders are rapidly evolving, so some features may have been added after this article was written.


next up previous contents
Next: How Boot Loaders Work Up: Linux Boot Loaders Compared Previous: Contents   Contents
Lennart Benschop 2003-05-29