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Date:      Sat, 31 Oct 1998 13:46:50 +0800
From:      Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>
To:        Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
Cc:        John Polstra <jdp@polstra.com>, current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: New boot loader and alternate kernels 
Message-ID:  <199810310546.NAA18245@spinner.netplex.com.au>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 30 Oct 1998 10:34:59 PST." <199810301834.KAA01153@dingo.cdrom.com> 

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Mike Smith wrote:
> > > I have a question about the new boot loader.  My /boot/boot.conf
> > > file looks like this:
> > > 
> > >     load /kernel
> > >     autoboot 10
> > > 
> > > Now suppose I want to boot an alternate kernel.  To do that, it seems
> > > I have to interrupt the autoboot sequence by pressing a key, then do
> > > "unload /kernel", then do "boot /kernel.alt".  Is that right?  It's
> > > the unload step that I'm wondering about.  Can it be avoided?
> > 
> > Unloading is an all or nothing proposition; it throws everything away 
> > (it doesn't take any arguments).  This avoids having holes in the 
> > loaded region, as well as having to deal with dependancy issues.
> 
> I also forgot to point out that in the more complex case:
> 
> 	load /kernel
> 	load /modules/foo.ko
> 	...
> 	autoboot 10
> 
> you could just add
> 
> 	unload
> 
> to the end of the script.
> 
> There's probably a call for a 'bootmodules' variable as well; until we 
> get more people using this and asking for features I'm not sure what's 
> worth adding and what's just fluff.
> 
> How many people would be interested in labels and conditional branches,
> for example?

What I'd like is something like this:

   timeout 10 "Press enter to boot now, any other key to abort"
   load kernel
   load foo.ko
   boot

Ie: have an abort-script type capability.  It'd save all that loading and 
unloading.

> -- 
> \\  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
> 
> 
> 
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> 

Cheers,
-Peter
--
Peter Wemm <peter@netplex.com.au>   Netplex Consulting
"No coffee, No workee!" :-)



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