Re: RFC: What should be done about kernel-image's bootloader questions
Ethan Benson wrote:
> I have been thinking about the way kernel-images currently handle the
> standard bootloader and boot-floppy questions on installation.
>
> Right now its rather deficient on powerpc as it assumes all PowerPCs
> are created equal which is far from the truth:
>
> it assumes all powerpcs use quik as the bootloader
> it assumes all powerpcs have floppy drives
> it assumes its possible to create a boot floppy on all powerpcs.
>
> NewWorld powermacs all lack floppy drives so it would seem logical to
> simply default to do_bootfloppy = False if the machine is a NewWorld
> powermac.
>
> however its impossible to really make a very useful bootfloppy on
> powermac in general, for oldworld we can copy the .coff kernel to a
> floppy which might be manually bootable via OF, but thats about it. i
> don't know about other powerpc subarchs.
>
> the bootloader stuff is what i am not entirely sure should be done
> with. yaboot/ybin does not really require anything to be done on
> kernel installation assuming /etc/yaboot.conf references the /vmlinux
> or /boot/vmlinux symlinks, kernel-image will update those
> automatically. the same is true of silo too but kernel-image does do
> a little bit with silo at least.
>
> I would like to hear what people thing the kernel-image packages
> should do on non-OldWorld PowerMacs as far as bootloader setup, and
> boot-floppy creation. at that point filing a bug against
> kernel-package asking for the changes will be done.
APUS has its own, BootX/loadlin-style bootloader which resides on the AmigaOS
side completely. I already contacted the kernel-package maintainer about this,
asking him about his thoughts on just prompting the user to undertake the
necessary steps to boot the new kernel (it currently thinks we use LILO
*shudder*), but haven't got any response yet.
--
Earthling Michel Dänzer (MrCooper) \ Debian GNU/Linux (powerpc) developer
CS student, Free Software enthusiast \ XFree86 and DRI project member
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