extlinux and a bootloader system rewrite

extlinux and a bootloader system rewrite

[Lilah Tascheter]

heyall!

I've been working on a large bootloader subsystem rewrite to get
everything working together nicer and support future bootloaders
better. however, extlinux is being a bit of an issue.

extlinux installs its second stage (ldlinux.sys) by copying it into the
root (or boot) filesystem, and then copying the on-disk block offset
into the bootblock first-stage. this relies on the now-heavily
discouraged practice of assuming files just stay in the same physical
spot. it requires special treatment with btrfs, will break if anything
rearranges the file-system, and will most likely never work on disk
images.

it hasn't been updated since 2014 and kinda shows.

a possible solution would be re-implementing its installer and instead
installing ldlinux.sys to a separate partition, or maybe see if it
could re-use GRUB's method of installing in the partition gap or even
editing the disk image installer to work in an losetup'd container or
some shit. but, honestly, I don't know if that would actually help
anyone.

does anyone use extlinux on guix still? would anyone mind if I just nix
it (guix it?) entirely in the patch series? grub supports every case
extlinux would support anyway.

thanks!
leila

Re: extlinux and a bootloader system rewrite

[Vagrant Cascadian]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 595 bytes --]

On 2024-04-22, Lilah Tascheter wrote:
> I've been working on a large bootloader subsystem rewrite to get
> everything working together nicer and support future bootloaders
> better. however, extlinux is being a bit of an issue.
...
> does anyone use extlinux on guix still? would anyone mind if I just nix
> it (guix it?) entirely in the patch series? grub supports every case
> extlinux would support anyway.

I don't know if extlinux proper is used by anyone, but various platforms
that use u-boot use extlinux-style menus, so at least those parts should
not be dropped.

live well,
  vagrant

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 227 bytes --]