Re: GRUB maintainership

[Erich Boleyn <erich@uruk.org>]

Gordon Matzigkeit <gord@trick.fig.org> wrote:

> Expecting extended BIOS calls in the 512-byte stage 1, though, seems
> completely impossible, unless you sacrifice other GRUB features.
> Perhaps we could do it by choosing between multiple stage1's based on
> the kind of features we know we need?

Actually, I think I could make it work if someone was willing to presume
it would only support the newer BIOS interface.  But that's a topic for
another time.  I think we're 

Besides, current limits on the partition table format and other GRUB code
mean we'd still have a 2TB limit.


Roland McGrath <roland@frob.com> wrote:

> GM> Hiding a stage1.5 like that is my personal favorite.
> 
> I think that is a fine solution.  That's what everybody would do if it were
> easy to install it this way.  Having any files in your regular filesystem
> whose blocks aren't allowed to move without hosing your life, is a bad thing.
> 
> This gets back to a more general problem: it is way too confusing and
> error-prone to install GRUB.  This could be addressed by floppies or
> menu.lst files with canned install options, but I think the install command
> just plain needs to get some less obscure syntax.

I very much agree.  I'm still keeping that command around in the debug
version for my own use if nothing else (it allows you to do some really
useful things), but in general lets choose a few common options and make
a relatively portable program/makefile that supports them.

Here's my tentative list in order of desirability:
  --  Put the stage1 in the MBR, then either:
	--  Put the stage2 in the area after the MBR.
	--  Put the stage1.5 in the area after the MBR (and stage2 in
		your partition area with the menu.lst).
  --  Put the stage1 in the first sector of a partition, then either:
	--  Put the stage1.5 in the "bootloader" area of a partition.
	--  Put the stage2 in the partition area with a note not to move
		it without re-fixing the install (lilo-like).
	--  Put the stage1.5 in the partition area with a note not to
		move it without re-fixing the install (lilo-like).

Does that seem good enough for an install program to support?


--
    Erich Stefan Boleyn                      \_         <erich@uruk.org>
  Mad Scientist  --  CyberMuffin               \__    http://www.uruk.org/
  Motto: "I'll live forever or die trying"        ---------------------------