From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 17 11:16:40 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0CD96106566C for ; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:16:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from avg@icyb.net.ua) Received: from citadel.icyb.net.ua (citadel.icyb.net.ua [212.40.38.140]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3898D8FC20 for ; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:16:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from avg@icyb.net.ua) Received: from odyssey.starpoint.kiev.ua (alpha-e.starpoint.kiev.ua [212.40.38.101]) by citadel.icyb.net.ua (8.8.8p3/ICyb-2.3exp) with ESMTP id NAA11087; Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:15:19 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from avg@icyb.net.ua) Message-ID: <499A9C47.4070602@icyb.net.ua> Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:15:19 +0200 From: Andriy Gapon User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 (X11/20090110) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Nick Hibma References: <200902171125.24160.nick@van-laarhoven.org> In-Reply-To: <200902171125.24160.nick@van-laarhoven.org> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.7 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: booting/loading a tool, not kernel X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:16:40 -0000 on 17/02/2009 12:25 Nick Hibma said the following: > You are aware of nextboot(8)? That you could use to specify the 'kernel' to > load on next boot. > > Also boot.config(5) might be of use. Thanks a lot, these are very useful. But I am still thinking about an interactive menu where I could e.g. press '9' to go to "Utilities" and then could select memtest86 or memtest2009 or cputest :-) >> I'd like to add an entry to my loader menu to load/execute memtest86 >> instead of a kernel. It is built as standalone ELF executable, of course. >> >> Currently I go to a loader prompt and do: >>> unload >>> load /boot/memtest86 >>> boot >> Where should I look to get this into the forth code? >> >> Suppose I want to extend this approach. >> What would be a good name for subdirectory to put such tools? >> What would be a good way to add a sub-menu for such tools? >> >> Also, my current approach means that loader still first loads a standard >> kernel and its modules and then replaces them with memetest86. How to >> get to a loader menu without pre-loading anything? > > -- Andriy Gapon