Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 17:10:00 +0930 (CST) From: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> To: bde@zeta.org.au (Bruce Evans) Cc: imp@rover.village.org, msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG, pechter@lakewood.com, terry@lambert.org Subject: Re: Boot file system idea! Slick Message-ID: <199707220740.RAA28361@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <199707220708.RAA15780@godzilla.zeta.org.au> from Bruce Evans at "Jul 22, 97 05:08:09 pm"
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Bruce Evans stands accused of saying: > > > >The problem is that if it's not mandatory, there's no point in doing > >it. If we support reading from ufs filesystems anyway, there's > >nothing really gained from having FAT support. This is why I can't > >understand Bruce suggesting Yet Another Filesystem just for the > >bootstrap. > > Can you understand Terry suggesting it? %-) Yes; Terry is quite fond of several of the more advanced compromise standards that have become popular in the suck-up-to-microsoft market. They're ugly, but pragmatic. (This isn't a value judgement.) > I even unsuggested rawboot > and nextboot. It's easier to hack on raw sectors than on file systems, > but the results aren't so good, and the the simplications are actually > complexifications if the file system version is still supported. Ok, so if I read you correctly : - there will not be a boot filesystem, ever. (Cases involving your dead body excepted) Right, now we're getting somewhere. We need /boot in this case, for : boot.config.default boot.help.default kernel.config.default as well as a secondary search path for boot.config boot.help kernel.config And later for PnP.index PCI.index and anything else that is useful to the kernel and bootstrap process. I started looking at the boot3 stuff that was going around last year; unfortunately with the -current bootblock it loads but explodes (system reboot) before it gets going. I particularly want this to be able to talk to the PnP and ESCD BIOS functions in order to suck their brains before the kernel starts. The alternative is for someone helpful (like yourself) to suggest how I would go about calling a 16-bit protected mode BIOS interface from the kernel. I can supply lots more disgusting details about the interface if you like, but basically I don't grok x86 assembler well enough to produce it from scratch. > Bruce -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[
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