From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 14 13:23:02 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 757AC37B401 for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2003 13:23:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail.speakeasy.net (mail12.speakeasy.net [216.254.0.212]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D423243F85 for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2003 13:23:01 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jhb@FreeBSD.org) Received: (qmail 12355 invoked from network); 14 Apr 2003 20:23:08 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO server.baldwin.cx) ([216.27.160.63]) (envelope-sender )encrypted SMTP for ; 14 Apr 2003 20:23:08 -0000 Received: from laptop.baldwin.cx (gw1.twc.weather.com [216.133.140.1]) by server.baldwin.cx (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id h3EKMvOv067184; Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:22:58 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from jhb@FreeBSD.org) Message-ID: X-Mailer: XFMail 1.5.4 on FreeBSD X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <200304142009.WAA26011@faui40p.informatik.uni-erlangen.de> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:22:59 -0400 (EDT) From: John Baldwin To: Toerless Eckert cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: boot2 broken ? (booting from pst fails) X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 20:23:02 -0000 On 14-Apr-2003 Toerless Eckert wrote: >> > With boot2 being space challenged, why does it need to be a btx >> > client anyhow ? >> >> Because then the code to read UFS can be in C instead of assembly. :) Are >> you offering to rewrite the entire bootstrap in assembly and maintain it? > > No, i was rather thinking about the good ol' mechanism of burning the sectors > for "loaders" into the boot1/boot2 bootstrap code, foregoing the need > to put UFS into boot2 and allowing it to be a simple real-mode loader. The idea of burning the sectors into the bootstrap is very _very_ unacceptable. As you pointed out, FreeBSD does try to avoid dirty hacks like this for the sake of a cleaner and more flexible design. Hardcoding the sectors would make things like booting kernels directly from boot2 as well as booting /boot/loader.old in the case that /boot/loader breaks impossible. Also, apart from your hardware, FreeBSD is quite compatible with the large majority of PC hardware. We boot directly off of 3ware ATA RAID controllers where I work, so I really think your claims are rather overstated. -- John Baldwin <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/