Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 09:09:14 +0100 (BST) From: Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> Cc: current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ELF kernels: When? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95q.980427090239.344C-100000@herring.nlsystems.com> In-Reply-To: <199804260318.UAA01808@antipodes.cdrom.com>
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On Sat, 25 Apr 1998, Mike Smith wrote: > > On Fri, 24 Apr 1998, Mike Smith wrote: > > > The major issues are build-related; the NetBSD bootblocks have a > > > ringworm-like grip on the rest of the kernel source tree which has > > > resisted the last couple of efforts I've put into separating them. > > > > Sounds like we need src/contrib/netbsd. No, no, stop hitting me! > > 8) > > The problem with attacking the NetBSD bootblocks is that they have to > be swallowed all at once; if you want to build using their existing > infrastructure you need a kernel layout that looks exactly like theirs, > as well as the NetBSD make (because they use some new hacks), and their > includes, and... > > Ripping it all out and restructuring it somewhere else seems to make so > much sense. 8) I spent some time this weekend doing exactly that. I pulled NetBSD's libsa, libz and i386/stand into our tree and hacked on them until they built. I made some ugly hacks in there to construct FreeBSD style bootinfo and slice stuff, so it should boot most things. I haven't actually tried it on a real machine (my scratch box is in pieces) but it works fine under bochs (bochs is a godsend for this kind of work :-). It should be dead easy to get these bootblocks to load ELF kernels. The libsa environment is really very friendly. As a special bonus, they will load gzipped kernels directly (not via kzipboot). Just install your kernel as /kernel.gz and boot. I haven't tested this, so your milage might vary considerably. If anyone is interested, the hacked sources are in freefall:~dfr/netbsdboot.diff.gz. I think they should apply cleanly. If they don't tell me. -- Doug Rabson Mail: dfr@nlsystems.com Nonlinear Systems Ltd. Phone: +44 181 951 1891 Fax: +44 181 381 1039 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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