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Date:      Wed, 11 Nov 1998 14:02:14 -0800
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>
Cc:        Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Ville-Pertti Keinonen <will@iki.fi>, sthaug@nethelp.no, jkh@zippy.cdrom.com, current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Is it soup yet? :-) 
Message-ID:  <199811112202.OAA05485@dingo.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 11 Nov 1998 13:57:32 MST." <199811112057.NAA19037@mt.sri.com> 

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> > > > I think the issue is perhaps a little over-emotional.  The images total 
> > > > 8k in three files, and really don't justify or warrant a directory all 
> > > > to themselves *anywhere*.
> > > 
> > > More than that.  I've got 101K in mine, which includes boot1, boot2,
> > > fbsdboot.exe, a bunch of com files for ether-booting, and rawboot.
> > 
> > We're not discussing any of that legacy cruft, none of which belongs in
> > /usr/mdec either.  The discussion here is specific to the disposition of
> > boot0, boot1 and boot2.
> 
> So, where does the 'legacy cruft' go then?  Seems like everything in
> /usr/mdec belongs in /usr/mdec right now, and breaking it up is change
> for the sake of change....

Of the items you list in your /usr/mdec, only boot0, boot1 and boot2 are
native boot tools. (8.5k)  Boot1 and boot2 go under multiple names due
to legacy behaviour in disklabel which we don't need (as we have a
unified bootstrap set) and should lose.

Fbsdboot.exe is obsolete; it should be maintained outside the tree if at
all.  It's no longer possible to safely boot from any recent DOS
environment; this was established to a considerable degree of confidence
last time its functionality came up.

The ethernet bootstrap modules are a tossup.  They're so obsolete that 
they're almost useless, but not quite.  I don't believe they should be 
built or installed by default, however, as they normally need to be 
customised for a particular environment.

Rawboot was a one-off hack and should not be built or installed.

Cdboot should not be built or installed either; it is a template for a 
custom tool that's built when making bootable CDROMs.  It should be 
constructed when the CDROM is being built (as it needs to be populated 
according to the needs of the CDROM).

So all you have left are boot0, boot1 and boot2.  Given that all of the 
rest of the boot process data is being accumulated in /boot, and given 
that we're only talking about 8.5k and three files, moving them seems 
to make the most sense.

This isn't change for the sake of change.  It's an attempt to be
complete and consistent as an altnerative to leaving rotting appendages
lying around.  I have far too much to worry about to undertake 
makework.  8)


-- 
\\  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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