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In the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard 3.0 under the section 3.5.1 "The Root Filesystem - /boot : Static files of the boot loader - Purpose":

This directory contains everything required for the boot process except configuration files not needed at boot time and the map installer.

What is this map installer. I wasn't able to find anything myself, hence the question.

Here's the link to the document I'm referring to, just in case: https://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_3.0/fhs-3.0.pdf

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  • Also, it would be very helpful, if you could provide a reliable source for me to refer to when i look for fhs-related definitions. Since there is none 'Terminology' chapter in the document, but there is a lot of specific termins which bring a lot of confusion (for example: directory, folder and subdirectory being used with a clearly different meaning) Commented Aug 17, 2024 at 15:48
  • oreilly.com/library/view/lpi-linux-certification/0596005288/… rtfm.vtt.net/linuxadm/lsg04.htm Commented Aug 17, 2024 at 16:25
  • Thank you very much) Commented Aug 18, 2024 at 21:16

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This is a historical reference dating back to the original Linux Filesystem Standard (FSSTND); 1994.

In those days the primary bootloader was LILO ("LInux LOader"), which is nowhere near as smart as grub. In particular it, the boot runtime didn't really understand filesystems.

So when you installed LILO onto your machine it created a map file of the sectors that it needed to load to get the secondary boot loader and kernel loaded. Originally these files were stored in /etc/lilo/map but they got moved to /boot/map.

The installer of the map files didn't need to be in /boot because it wasn't needed at boot time, but the map files it created did.

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    1984 is several years before Linux. Commented Aug 17, 2024 at 18:03
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    Sorry, typo; 1994 (heh, I just made the same typo in this comment); I'll fix it Commented Aug 17, 2024 at 20:15

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