Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 01:40:29 -0800 From: Michael Smith <msmith@freebsd.org> To: Maxim Sobolev <sobomax@FreeBSD.org> Cc: Michael Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.org>, hackers@FreeBSD.org, audit@FreeBSD.org, re@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Extending loader(8) for loading kerels/modules split across several disks Message-ID: <200203070940.g279eTa04750@mass.dis.org> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 07 Mar 2002 11:21:00 %2B0200." <3C8730FC.E88F85B4@FreeBSD.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > > Please review attached patch, which adds long overdue feature to our > > > loader(8), allowing it to load sequence of files as a single object. > > > > I don't like this. I would much rather see support for 'split' files > > implemented as a stacking filesystem layer like the gzip support, with > > the simple recognition of 'foo.gz.aa' as the first part of a split > > version of 'foo.gz', which in turn is recognised as a compressed version > > of 'foo'. > > I am curious how in this case the layer is going to know how many > parts the file contains? The simple way to do it is to keep asking for more parts until there are no more. You can take the NetBSD approach of wrapping the file in a multipart tar archive. Or a more elegant method involves the use of a control file. eg. the splitfs code, when asked to open "foo" looks for "foo.split" which is a text file containing a list of filenames and media names, eg. foo.aa "Kernel floppy 1" foo.ab "Kernel floppy 2" foo.ac "Kernel and modules floppy" For each file segment, the process is: - try to open the file - prompt "please insert the disk labelled <whatever>'" - try to open the file - return error At any rate, my key point is that the splitting should be invisible, and *definitely* not pushed up into the loader. -- To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore Roosevelt To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-audit" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200203070940.g279eTa04750>