From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 24 02:01:30 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9EED0106564A for ; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:01:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from igloo.linux.gr (igloo.linux.gr [62.1.205.36]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91AE78FC14 for ; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:01:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: from kobe.laptop (adsl131-194.kln.forthnet.gr [77.49.250.194]) (authenticated bits=128) by igloo.linux.gr (8.14.3/8.14.3/Debian-6) with ESMTP id n1O20gwh007233 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:00:51 +0200 Received: from kobe.laptop (kobe.laptop [127.0.0.1]) by kobe.laptop (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n1O20P2O011990; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:00:25 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) Received: (from keramida@localhost) by kobe.laptop (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n1O20OU7011989; Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:00:24 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@ceid.upatras.gr) From: Giorgos Keramidas To: "Overdorf\, Sam" References: <9ef7e7380902220154t74657d52uc9497c77672b79f8@mail.gmail.com> <9a52b1190902220711u65e38320t97ca56547bef246d@mail.gmail.com> <87ljryccm0.fsf@kobe.laptop> <49a20440.oqh9j8d04xp6dYo8%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <87mycd847c.fsf@kobe.laptop> <20090223195041.GC58188@kokopelli.hydra> <20090223160951.056f54d1@scorpio> <20090224001322.GD59353@kokopelli.hydra> <96D71EC226B22D48B4F8F6F9C33C91CE3A5EB70F@orsmsx508.amr.corp.intel.com> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:00:23 +0200 In-Reply-To: <96D71EC226B22D48B4F8F6F9C33C91CE3A5EB70F@orsmsx508.amr.corp.intel.com> (Sam Overdorf's message of "Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:35:00 -0800") Message-ID: <87myccbnm0.fsf@kobe.laptop> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.0.90 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Hellug-MailScanner-ID: n1O20gwh007233 X-Hellug-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-Hellug-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (not cached, score=-3.881, required 5, autolearn=not spam, ALL_TRUSTED -1.80, AWL 0.52, BAYES_00 -2.60) X-Hellug-MailScanner-From: keramida@ceid.upatras.gr X-Spam-Status: No Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: FreeBSD multiboot question. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:01:30 -0000 On Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:35:00 -0800, "Overdorf, Sam" wrote: > I have three partitions loaded with different versions of FreeBSD. > I have the multiboot option working and it shows the following: > > F1 FreeBSD > F2 FreeBSD > F3 FreeBSD > > Is there a way that I can change the description from "FreeBSD" to > something like: > > F1 FreeBSD 7.1 > F2 FreeBSD 7.0 > F3 FreeBSD 6.4 Not with the default boot0 loader. The strings you see are hardcoded in the limited space of the master boot record[1], and the assembler source for the 512 bytes of the MBR even uses 'overlapping strings' to cover other BSD-related (but not necessarily FreeBSD-specific) partition types using as little space as possible. You can read the source of the `boot0' MBR in x86 assembler through the web interface of Subversion[2]. Look near line 623 for the code that reads: /* * Offsets that match the known types above, used to point to the * actual partition name. The last entry must point to os_misc, * which is used for non-matching names. */ .byte os_linux-. # 131, Linux .byte os_freebsd-. # 165, FreeBSD .byte os_bsd-. # 166, OpenBSD .byte os_bsd-. # 169, NetBSD If you want longer names, or even a graphical boot menu, you can always install some other boot loader. AFAIK, two of the most popular options are `sysutils/grub' or `sysutils/syslinux'. Note that the version of GRUB we have in the Ports is a bit old. It is a version of GRUB 0.9X, and development of GRUB has moved to GRUB 2.X now[3]. It seems that the `sysutils/syslinux' port tracks the vendor releases more aggressively. Notes: ------ [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record [2] http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base/head/sys/boot/i386/boot0/boot0.S?annotate=HEAD [3] http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/