My question is with regards to booting a Linux system from a separate /boot partition. If most configuration files are located on a separate / partition, how does the kernel correctly mount it at boot time?Any elaboration on this would be great. I feel as though I am missing something basic. I am mostly concerned with the process and order of operations.Thanks!EDIT: I think what I needed to ask was more along the lines of the dev file that is used in the root kernel parameter. For instance, say I give my root param as root=/dev/sda2. How does the kernel have a mapping of the /dev/sda2 file?
How does a kernel mount the root partition?
linux;kernel;boot;mount
Linux initially boots with a ramdisk (called an initrd, for INITial RamDisk) as /.  This disk has just enough on it to be able to find the real root partition (including any driver and filesystem modules required).  It mounts the root partition onto a temporary mount point on the initrd, then invokes pivot_root(8) to swap the root and temporary mount points, leaving the initrd in a position to be umounted and the actual root filesystem on /.