WTF Grub syntax "root=LABEL=/"

[Ed Skinner]

I must be looking in all the wrong places for the answer...
In my /boot/grub/grub.conf file, the kernel line is:

kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-skinner ro root=3DLABEL=3D/

But darned if I can find where the "root=3DLABEL=3D/" meaning is spelled =
out. "man=20
grub" sends me to "info grub" but it never mentions this particular form =
of=20
the command. It gives examples such as "root=3D/dev/hda1" but never a for=
m with=20
two equals signs.

I presume this syntax means to look for the partition that is labelled as=
 "/"=20
but, again, I must be looking in the wrong places -- how do I display and=
=20
then modify partition labels, if that's what's going on.

I'm playing with a 2.6.0-test9 kernel and the only way I can get it to tr=
y and=20
boot is to modify the corresponding line for that kernel from "root=3DLAB=
EL=3D/"=20
to "root=3D/dev/hda1" (which is my "/" partition). I'm having other (poss=
ibly=20
unrelated) problems after that but, since this "problem" is so early in t=
he=20
boot, I'm hoping it may account for some of the subsequent problems.

Interestingly, the grub.conf for my normal kernel (2.4.22-skinner) is the=
 one=20
shown above and it works just fine with "root=3DLABEL=3D/".

WTF???

--=20
Ed Skinner, ed@flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/