From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mga09.intel.com (mga09.intel.com [134.134.136.24]) by mx1.pokylinux.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EA7C4C810C3 for ; Thu, 12 May 2011 16:14:05 -0500 (CDT) Received: from orsmga001.jf.intel.com ([10.7.209.18]) by orsmga102.jf.intel.com with ESMTP; 12 May 2011 14:14:04 -0700 X-ExtLoop1: 1 X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.64,360,1301900400"; d="scan'208";a="746460081" Received: from doubt.jf.intel.com (HELO [10.7.199.57]) ([10.7.199.57]) by orsmga001.jf.intel.com with ESMTP; 12 May 2011 14:14:04 -0700 Message-ID: <4DCC4DAF.5070900@linux.intel.com> Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 14:14:23 -0700 From: Darren Hart User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110424 Lightning/1.0b2 Thunderbird/3.1.10 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Richard Purdie References: <4DCB19C0.3060103@linux.intel.com> <1305192040.30391.487.camel@rex> In-Reply-To: <1305192040.30391.487.camel@rex> Cc: "poky@yoctoproject.org" Subject: Re: directdisk images - replace the image type with a script? X-BeenThere: poky@yoctoproject.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.13 Precedence: list List-Id: Poky build system developer discussion List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 21:14:05 -0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On 05/12/2011 02:20 AM, Richard Purdie wrote: > On Wed, 2011-05-11 at 16:20 -0700, Darren Hart wrote: >> I recently discovered that the directdisk images are malformed: >> >> http://bugzilla.pokylinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1028 >> >> While reviewing the directdisk recipe, I'm wondering if this image type >> has any real usage model. These are x86 specific. They partition a file >> image so when written to a real disk you get goofy partition tables >> (partitions do not end on cylinder boundaries). >> >> The current recipes mangle the .cfg file (writing binary data over the >> text file - I'm guessing the dd commands do this). >> >> We could patch this up, but is it worth it? All the other systems create >> ext3 images which are then installed on a disk per the instructions in >> the README.hardware document. The live image provides a simple >> dd-to-disk-and-boot solution. It seems to me the directdisk idea could >> be replaced with a script "mksyslinuximage.sh" or similar that took the >> image and kernel to use and the drive to partition, install syslinux on, >> and copy the filesystem to. >> >> Thoughts? > > We did get requests for that image type but I agree the implementation > is flawed. The trouble with the ext3 approach is that you depend on the > user having a script, syslinux installed, maybe knowing the location of > some syslinux files (vary by distro?), a set of tools, possibly a kernel > and that they get all the commands/parameters to the script right. > > I strongly dislike the way its currently implemented since it should be > an image type, not a separate recipe (the same complaint applies to > -live images). > > Since you've looked at it, is it possible to fix it or are there > variables that can only be determined when you know the final disk > geometry? I could spend some time looking at it. I was hoping to get an idea first if it even made sense to keep the image type at all. I still believe it doesn't make sense conceptually and people wanting such images are better off using a script to write it to a real disk and then creating a file image of that disk that they can reuse to create identical images on identical disks. > > The trouble with -live images is that you have to write them somewhere > secondary to make them persistent or you hit the overhead of ramdisks. > Its a fairly ugly format and not what some end users want. I see it as a quick test image. Do others use it for anything else? > > Cheers, > > Richard > > -- Darren Hart Intel Open Source Technology Center Yocto Project - Linux Kernel