Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:27:54 -0600 From: Stephen Montgomery-Smith <stephen@math.missouri.edu> To: phoenix@calldei.com Cc: current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Suggestion for elf upgrade Message-ID: <36C9806A.A75E20A8@math.missouri.edu> References: <36C79AFF.D4FDC3DC@showme.missouri.edu> <19990216081204.G8731@holly.dyndns.org>
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I think that you misunderstood my message. The problems I was having were not with the final state of the machine, but with the intermediate stages. Chris Costello wrote: > > On Sun, Feb 14, 1999, Stephen Montgomery-Smith put this into my mailbox: > > ....... > > and by this time, the code mismatch between the binary executables > > and the kernel made netscape unusable. > > Odd. Netscape runs for me. I have an ELF kernel and the new bootblocks, > and obviously a new ELF world. The problem was I was stuck with 3.1 code, but an old 3.0 kernel. I needed netscape or some other browser to get to the web site to figure out how to get the new 3.1 kernel going, and the mismatch meant that I could not use netscape. My point was that if I had known about this web site BEFORE I started the make world, then it would have been much easier to extract the needed info. Now I finally got the 3.1 kernel going, netscape works fine. > > It told me that I needed new bootblocks. I think a paragraph explanation > > of what bootblocks is would have helped a very great deal. As it was > > it was like telling me to wear a nuffle on my head when it is cold. > > Like, what is a nuffle? So what is a bootblock? I did figure > > out enough to get it to work (I am guessing that a bootblock is > > some code at the beginning of each slice that is loaded by booteasy). > > I believe the boot blocks contain the software required to access the disk > and boot the kernel. Obviously you'd need new boot blocks if you'll be > trying to run a kernel that the 2.2 blocks don't understand. Yes, I did figure out that much. But without understanding bootblocks in context, I was unsure what exactly I was looking for. I think that the web page http://www.freebsd.org/~peter/elfday.html would have been better if the link to http://www.freebsd.org/~rnordier/boot.txt had been somewhere prominent at the top of http://www.freebsd.org/~peter/elfday.html , and a small paragraph explaining what bootblocks is would have helped put the whole thing in context. My issue is not with the final product, which is fantastic. Rather I am making some suggested changes to the way the information is being put out. Really, they are only suggestions. I think that the FreeBSD team do a very good job. I just wanted to offer my feedback on the technical writing aspect. -- Stephen Montgomery-Smith stephen@math.missouri.edu 307 Math Science Building stephen@showme.missouri.edu Department of Mathematics stephen@missouri.edu University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO 65211 USA Phone (573) 882 4540 Fax (573) 882 1869 http://math.missouri.edu/~stephen To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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