oldworld-ppc: quik, initrd, bootx & manual (was Re: timeline for next month and next two releases)
Hi,
On Sunday 26 September 2004 06:17, Joey Hess wrote:
> Note that there are currently only 3 days until the last udeb changes for
> tc2, and that there are only 4 days to make string changes before the
> string freeze.
is tc2 != rc2 ? as there are still some small problems on oldworld:
ext3 & quik:
---------------
automatic partioning (local svn (up2date of yesterday evening) build) created
one ext3 / partition, but it's unsafe to install quik on an ext3. (unsafe =
quik works fine on unmounted ext3 but not when it was not correctly
unmounted). quik-installer refuses to install on an ext3-partition.
problem: that's no problem if bootx is used.
proposed solution: document this in the manual and display a warning note
about this if / and/or /boot are on ext3 on oldworld.
quik-installer & open firmware quirks
-----------------------------------------------
hmmm... quik-installer doesn't work on my box (power mac, 4400/200), as it
needs the following nvram-settings: (command to be executed shown)
nvsetenv boot-device ata/ata-disk@0:0
nvsetenv boot-file "/boot/vmlinux-2.4.27-powerpc root=/dev/hda2"
according to http://www.penguinppc.org/bootloaders/quik/quirks.php there are
only six machines who need _this_ extra settings - i'm thinking wether it
would be sufficient to document this and other quirks in the manual. ("before
rebooting switch to tty2 and execute these commands...")
it would be really helpful to ask for machine type specific installation
reports on oldworld in the rc-annoucement (or errata or where?) to be able to
collect these information to include them in the manual. i volunteer to
collect these information from the bugreports and put them in the manual.
quik, bootx & initrd
------------------------
it seems (see attached log from #mklinux) that quik does not support initrd
kernels - at least at the moment, it seems it could be added (but not until
sarge is released??) - so we have to use kernel 2.4 on machines booting with
quik. on the other hand bootx does support initrds - so it's possible to use
kernel 2.6 on oldworld. (with a non free os installed as bootx needs mac os.)
(the debian 2.4 kernel images don't use initrd, the 2.6 ones do.)
since the user decides whether to use quik or bootx i think the best solution
would be to display a note about this before selecting the kernel and
detailed explaination in the manual. (with a link to free-as-in-beer mac os
7.5 installation disks for the use with bootx.)
question regarding locally testing/hacking quik-installer:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
i got a question regarding locally building and modifying quik-installer
(which i will tonite as i got to go to work now...): the new (0.07)
quik-installer is not available in unstable right now, right ? (see
p.d.o/quik-installer)
so, can i locally build quik-installer.udeb, put in into localudebs and the
build the 2.4 powerpc floppies - does this put quik-installer on the root- or
net-driver-floppy ? or do i have to use wget and udpkg ?
conclusions
---------------
i think i should file the following bug reports, i will do this tonite if
there are no objections:
- warning needed if / and/or /boot are on an ext3-partition on oldworld
- document machine specific quik quirks on oldworld (for as many models as
possible...)
- document the use of bootx in the manual (with link to mac os 7.5
installation disks)
- display a note about the initrd issues before selecting the kernel (2.4 or
2.6) on oldworld
favorite quote from http://www.penguinppc.org/mac/#bootloaders
Old World Macs must use either BootX (which requires a bootable Mac OS
installation) or quik (which must deal with the buggy firmware of that era).
regards,
Holger
--> You are now talking on #mklinux
--- Topic for #mklinux is Welcome to #mkchicken-fried-bacon
--- Topic for #mklinux set by Tartarus at Fri Sep 24 18:42:48 2004
<svenl> hi holger
<holger> hi svenl ;)
<benh> svenl: not sure
<benh> svenl: but it may be able to load one of the zImages
<hollis> svenl: why doesn't quik work?
<holger> hollis: svenl is asleep ;-) we're in oldenburg... and tried to make quik work with 2.6.8 and initrd.
<hollis> how did it fail?
<holger> didnt load the initrd and then failed because of no root filesystem
<holger> quik's manpage says nothing about initrd, but according to someone (who dont understand c(++)) i found on google, there is some initrd code in quik...
<owen> holger: so hack up quick
<owen> quik
<hollis> it doesn't seem to support initrd
<hollis> it zeroes out initrd_start and initrd_size
<holger> but just now (after i temp. gave up on the kernel-2.6.8 debian package with initrd and installed 2.4.27 without initrd) i saw in the quik-installer code in debian-installer that there is a cfg option "ramdisk=/path/to/initrd"
<holger> unfortunatly i don't speak c(++) - and i can happily life without initrd on that box. but i'm asking for the debian-installer here...
<holger> i'll test the ramdisk= tomorrow...
<hollis> I don't see how that could work, unless someone patched support into Debian's quik
<hollis> what version is it?
<holger> hollis: 2.0e-7
<hollis> hmm
<hollis> the Debian patch doesn't have anything about it
<hollis> so I'm almost positive it won't work
<hollis> but do let me know if I'm wrong :)
<holger> ramdisk=string
<holger> Specifies that the argument ramdisk=string should be inserted in the arguments to the kernel being booted, before the argu-
<holger> ments specified by the user.
<hollis> but I see no code that will handle that
<holger> the ramdisk-argument ?
<hollis> yes
<holger> ok :(
<hollis> let me know if it works... perhaps I'm missing something
<holger> ok, i will.
<holger> but i guess that means no 2.6 (with standard debian kernels) for oldworld (who else needs quik?) in debian sarge
<hollis> someone else must have asked about this on the debian-ppc list
<holger> ya, it seems nobody really knows or knew, but i think it's clear now. cjwatson also had a look at quiks code after i told him what i just learned here - btw, thanx!
<holger> but 2.4 should support oldworld fairly well - and there's no reason someone fixes quik sooner or later...
<holger> bye
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