LILO

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LILO (LInux LOader) is a simple boot loader to load Linux and other operating systems.

Installation

LILO's installation is two-fold. One is the installation of the software itself on the system (but does not activate LILO), the second one is the installation (activation) of the LILO bootloader on the disk's MBR.

USE flags

USE flags for sys-boot/lilo LInux LOader, the original Linux bootloader

device-mapper Enable support for device-mapper from sys-fs/lvm2

keytab Install keytab, keyboard remapping helper script

minimal Do not install optional bits (dolilo helper, docs, etc.)

pxeserial Avoid character echo on PXE serial console

static !!do not set this during bootstrap!! Causes binaries to be statically linked instead of dynamically

Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2025年11月30日 18:53 More information about USE flags

Emerge

The software installation will only install the software on the file system, but will not install LILO in the MBR.

root #emerge --ask sys-boot/lilo

Installing LILO on the MBR

In order to install LILO on the MBR or update LILO, invoke lilo. However, before doing that, the /etc/lilo.conf file must be set up, which is covered in the Configuration section below.

root #lilo

Configuration

An example lilo.conf file is provided at /etc/lilo.conf.example. To start configuring LILO, copy over the example file.

root #cp /etc/lilo.conf.example /etc/lilo.conf

Update the /etc/lilo.conf file accordingly.

General configuration

First configure LILO to be deployed on the system. The boot parameter tells LILO where to install the LILO bootloader in. Usually, this is the block device that represents the first disk (the disk that the system will boot), such as /dev/sda. Be aware that the lilo.conf.example file still uses /dev/hda so make sure that references to /dev/hda are changed to /dev/sda.

FILE /etc/lilo.confDefining where to install LILO in

boot=/dev/sda
map=/boot/.map

Next, tell LILO what to boot as default (if the user does not select any other option at the boot menu). The name used here is the label value of the operating system blocks defined later in the file.

FILE /etc/lilo.confBooting the block labeled as Gentoo by default

default=Gentoo

LILO will show the available options for a short while before continuing to boot the default selected operating system. How long it waits is defined by the timeout parameter and is measured in tenths of a second (so the value 10 is one second):

FILE /etc/lilo.confSetting a 5 second timeout before continuing to boot the default OS

timeout=50

In case of slow loading time, one could use compact which will reduce the read operation of the sector from each individual sector into sector and its adjacent sectors. That will boost the booting time in slow machine. But caveat is that the file should be in contiguous sectors to have the effect. Partially continuous sectors are fine but if they are nowhere close to each other, the number of read operation would still stay the same. Hence, no effect.

FILE /etc/lilo.confReduce the read operation for contiguous sectors

compact

Configuring the Gentoo OS block

An example configuration block for Gentoo is shown below. It is given the "Gentoo" label to match the default parameter declared earlier.

FILE /etc/lilo.confExample Gentoo Linux configuration in lilo.conf

image=/boot/kernel-3.11.2-gentoo
	label=Gentoo
	read-only
	root=/dev/sda4

This will boot the Linux kernel /boot/kernel-3.11.2-gentoo with root file system /dev/sda4.

Warning
Use UUID of root instead of path if intended to use with initramfs (especially with dracut) as it might fail to recognize the root directory from translated code by lilo.

Adding kernel parameters

To add additional kernel parameters to the OS block, use the append parameter. For instance, to boot the Linux kernel silently (so it does not show any kernel messages unless critical):

FILE /etc/lilo.confShowing the use of the append parameter with the quiet option

image=/boot/kernel-3.11.2-gentoo
	label=Gentoo
	read-only
	root=/dev/sda4
	append="quiet"

systemd users for instance would want to set init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd so that the systemd init is used:

FILE /etc/lilo.confUsing systemd with LILO

	append="quiet init=/usr/lib/systemd/systemd"

As can be seen, additional kernel parameters are just appended to the same append parameter.

Multiple block definitions

It is a good idea to keep old definitions available in case the new kernel doesn't boot successfully. This is accomplished by creating another block:

FILE /etc/lilo.confDefining a second OS block

image=/boot/kernel-3.9.2-gentoo
 root=/dev/sda4
 label=OldGentoo
 read-only

Usage

Updating LILO in the MBR

As mentioned earlier, lilo has to be executed in order to install LILO in the MBR. This step has to be repeated every time /etc/lilo.conf is modified or when the Linux kernel(s) that the /etc/lilo.conf file points to are updated!

root #lilo

Running lilo too much doesn't hurt.

Dual boot Gentoo and FreeBSD

To dual boot Gentoo and FreeBSD, edit /etc/lilo.conf as follows:

FILE /etc/lilo.confDual boot: Gentoo and FreeBSD

large-memory
lba32
boot=/dev/sda
install=menu
map=/boot/map
prompt
default=Gentoo
 
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26
	label="Gentoo"
	root=/dev/sda1
	append=""
	read-only
	optional
 
other=/dev/sda3
	label="FreeBSD"

Make sure to adapt the example configuration file to match the setup used.

Removal

Unmerge

Warning
Be sure there's another bootloader installed and properly configured before uninstalling lilo! Failing to do so will most likely result in the system failing to bootstrap.

Uninstall lilo, simply:

root #emerge --ask --depclean --verbose sys-boot/lilo