On Mon, Jan 26, 2004 at 02:47:34PM +1000, Andrew Pollock wrote: > On Fri, Jan 23, 2004 at 07:37:52PM -0600, Chris Cheney wrote: > > > I think he is saying that bootsplash shouldn't even require a kernel > > module to begin with so should be rewritten to properly make use of > > fbcon, hence "the same thing can be done in userspace" comment. When > > something can be done in userspace just as well as in kernelspace it > > should be done in userspace. If there are things bootsplace needs to do > > that can't be done in userspace or with fbcon then speak up... > > Herbert's attitude that things that are currently done in kernel space that > can be done in user space instead should be done in user space is all well > and good, I have no major problem with it, other than the fact that the > wheel has already been invented in a lot of cases with it being done in > kernel space, and Herbert being insistent that it be done in user space > isn't always the most practical. Its always been the attitude that things that can be done in userspace should be done in userspace. Note that bootsplash isn't in the "kernel" otherwise you wouldn't need Herbert to apply a patch. Even devfs is going away now and being replaced by a userspace daemon, udev. Also Caldera's gui bootup was done in userspace using a special init (iirc). That said I would really like Debian to have a prettier bootup, I just agree with Herbert that it should be done right. In the past it has been done in userspace so it seems that it is possible to do it right in userspace. > I'd like to be able to pretty up the kernel booting experience with a > framebuffer logo, for example, which I believe still "just works" if you > don't modularise framebuffer support, but doesn't work if you do. Herbert's > opinion (and it's fair enough) is that this should be done in user space > (I'm not quite sure how you achieve spitting out a logo early in the boot > process, I guess have it in the initrd), but it takes work to achieve the > user space alternative to an already existing kernel space "feature". Setting the kernel to boot in quiet mode would achieve that for the most part. Displaying the logo right would probably require it being displayed in early userspace, which although it means its not in the kernel itself it would be in the initrd/initramfs and would still need to be in the kernel debs. The part that displays/hides the init.d processes loading could probably stay in normal userspace (outside of the initrd). If bootsplash achieves something that can't be done using a combination of early userspace and regular userspace perhaps that part could be left as a kernel module and sent to lkml for inclusion. If its part of the real kernel Herbert might be persuaded to enable it. Chris
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