Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 15:25:59 -0500 (EST) From: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: Damien Tougas <damien@tougas.net>, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: A question about kernel modules Message-ID: <XFMail.20030307152559.jhb@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <3E68F79D.817B46E6@mindspring.com>
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On 07-Mar-2003 Terry Lambert wrote: > John Baldwin wrote: >> > The GENERIC kernel is loaded from a CDROM controller BIOS faked-up >> > floppy drive, which is how CDROMs are able to boot. Even if all >> > other issues were resolved, this floppy image would be unable to >> > contain all the necessary modules. For the modules to be read off >> > the CDROM or other boot media, all the code in the module loading >> > path would have to be statically present (ISO9660 FS, ATA and SCSI >> > drivers, CDROM driver, etc., etc.). By including all the drivers >> > in the GENERIC kernel, it makes it much more likely that you will >> > b able to actually install FreeBSD in the first place. >> >> FreeBSD hasn't used the floppy-emulation mode of CD booting since >> 4.6. See /usr/src/sys/boot/i386/cdboot/cdboot.s and an El Torito >> standard for more details. > > Oops; I was looking at a 4.5 box, which is what I mostly use to > do scratch work. > > The main point was that we get to load only one file, and have no > CDROM access after that, except through drivers which must be > present in the kernel. I think that's still valid to say. Nope. cdboot loads up a /boot/loader and you are free to load whatever modules you want off the CD just as if you were booting from a hard drive. That said, I personally favor static kernels and only use modules when I'm testing things. -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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