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Date:      Thu, 12 Nov 1998 07:59:43 +1100
From:      Peter Jeremy <peter.jeremy@auss2.alcatel.com.au>
To:        current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   /boot vs /usr/mdec [was Re: Is it soup yet? :-)]
Message-ID:  <98Nov12.080026est.40345@border.alcanet.com.au>

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Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> wrote:
>Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> wrote:
>> 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.

/usr/mdec on 3.0-RELEASE contains 1.5MB, os which 1.4MB is cdboot.
There's 100K (exactly) of other boot images.

FWIW, I don't see any point in moving this to /boot (or anywhere else
in /).  I share the viewpoints which can be summarised as (in my
priority order):
1) / should contain only the tools/programs/data necessary to boot the
   system and resurrect the remaining filesystems.  The contents of
   /usr/mdec do not fall into this category (see below).
2) /usr/mdec is the standard BSD place for boot-related data.  It may
   be an obscure place, but so is /usr/platform/sun4m/lib/fs/ufs
   [the Solaris 2.x equivalent on a sun4m].
3) Resizing / is painful.  Minimising the amount of extraneous junk
   loaded into / helps put off that evil day.

/usr/mdec does not contain any _files_ that are helpful in booting a
system or resurrecting a system once it is booted.  The contents of
boot[12] are essential to boot a system, but they have to be located
in particular physical disk blocks - not in a filesystem.  Similarly,
the network card ROM images have to be in a ROM on the network card to
be of any use.  fbsdboot.exe is of no use at all inside a UFS
filesystem (since the fileloader it is designed to work with cannot
understand UFS).

Peter
--
Peter Jeremy (VK2PJ)                    peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au
Alcatel Australia Limited
41 Mandible St                          Phone: +61 2 9690 5019
ALEXANDRIA  NSW  2015                   Fax:   +61 2 9690 5247

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