Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 14:43:09 -0800 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: "Justin T. Gibbs" <gibbs@narnia.plutotech.com> Cc: Robert Nordier <rnordier@nordier.com>, current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: How to add a new bootdevice to the new boot code ??? Message-ID: <199903192243.OAA07306@dingo.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 19 Mar 1999 15:24:55 MST." <199903192224.PAA15884@narnia.plutotech.com>
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> In article <199903171103.NAA13749@ceia.nordier.com> you wrote: > > S=F8ren Schmidt wrote: > > = > >> OK, easy enough, this is what I want to do: > >> = > >> Boot from an ata disk on major# 30, device name "ad", plain and simp= le. > > = > > I'd be inclined to handle this outside the boot code, by treating the= > > passed in major# as describing the device rather than specifying > > the driver. > = > Why not have the boot blocks pass in a device 'name' rather than a > major number. If the goal is to ditch major numbers entirely with > a properly working DEVFS, then using major numbers in the new boot > loader seems to be the wrong way to go. Until DEVFS is a reality, > the kernel will still need to perform a name to major number translatio= n, > but it should be left up to the kernel. Because there's no way to work out a name either. All the loader has to go on is the BIOS unit number and the disklabel, = the latter of which can't be relied on to be up-to-date (ie. it = reflects what the disk was when it was laid out, not what some nominal = kernel is going to call it). The *only* way for this to work is for the kernel to hunt for the = root device, possibly with some helping hints from the loader. -- = \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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