Integrating grub2tc into upstream GRUB

Integrating grub2tc into upstream GRUB

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

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Hello, I've had a look into your grub2tc project and I think it can be
successfully changed into a GRUB2 module. extract.rb would need to be
rewritten in C. tcloader.S would mostly disappear and be replaced with a
small C code to set the registers and load the file. Could you tell me
the expected load address and register values? Also current license
prohibits direct use of your code in GRUB2. Could you drop the Affero
clause? IT's useful mainly for network-based projects.
Also a possibility is to dump the contents of MBR gap on grub-setup and
if it's a truecrypt loader, save it in a file. Do you know of any
signature which can be used for this? This way we can integrate
truecrypt into grub-mkconfig.
Thank you in advance

-- 
Regards
Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko



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Re: Integrating grub2tc into upstream GRUB

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

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Note: I treat truecrypt as a proprietary software but due to its
popularity it makes sense to support it.
On 06.07.2011 14:28, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
> Hello, I've had a look into your grub2tc project and I think it can be
> successfully changed into a GRUB2 module. extract.rb would need to be
> rewritten in C. tcloader.S would mostly disappear and be replaced with a
> small C code to set the registers and load the file. Could you tell me
> the expected load address and register values? Also current license
> prohibits direct use of your code in GRUB2. Could you drop the Affero
> clause? IT's useful mainly for network-based projects.
> Also a possibility is to dump the contents of MBR gap on grub-setup and
> if it's a truecrypt loader, save it in a file. Do you know of any
> signature which can be used for this? This way we can integrate
> truecrypt into grub-mkconfig.
> Thank you in advance
>



-- 
Regards
Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko



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Re: Integrating grub2tc into upstream GRUB

[Simon Schubert]

Hi Vladimir,

On 07/06/2011 02:30 PM, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
>  Note: I treat truecrypt as a proprietary software but due to its
>  popularity it makes sense to support it.

Is it proprietary?  I'm currently not using Windows, so I don't have a 
working grub2tc setup.  But I'm happy to help, and it did work before.

>  On 06.07.2011 14:28, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
> > Hello, I've had a look into your grub2tc project and I think it can
> > be successfully changed into a GRUB2 module. extract.rb would need
> > to be rewritten in C. tcloader.S would mostly disappear and be
> > replaced with a small C code to set the registers and load the
> > file. Could you tell me the expected load address and register
> > values?

All what I ever found out went into these files, so they are our only 
documentation now :)

What I remember was that the TC boot code expects the data blocks to be 
in one of two possible locations.

> > Also current license prohibits direct use of your code in GRUB2.
> > Could you drop the Affero clause? IT's useful mainly for
> > network-based projects.

Yes, I'm happy to relicense it as GPL3 for the use in GRUB2.

> > Also a possibility is to dump the contents of MBR gap on grub-setup
> > and if it's a truecrypt loader, save it in a file.

I think I looked into this, but the code is slightly different and 
accesses data of the gap that will be overwritten by grub.  Therefore I 
decided to use the cd image boot code.

> > Do you know of any signature which can be used for this? This way
> > we can integrate truecrypt into grub-mkconfig. Thank you in
> > advance

I'd have to go and install TC and/or read the code.  I'm pretty sure TC 
uses some signature internally, but I forget what it was.

cheers
   simon

Re: Integrating grub2tc into upstream GRUB

[Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko]

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On 06.07.2011 15:12, Simon Schubert wrote:
> Hi Vladimir,
>
> On 07/06/2011 02:30 PM, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
>>  Note: I treat truecrypt as a proprietary software but due to its
>>  popularity it makes sense to support it.
>
> Is it proprietary?
It is. The license doesn't confer you the freedoms of libre software
(like modifying and redistributing). Just one example: if you breach any
of the vague claims you can't never ever use it again. For life.
>   I'm currently not using Windows, so I don't have a working grub2tc
> setup.  But I'm happy to help, and it did work before.
>
I think I can do straightforward translation and then someone will
probably want to test it.
>>  On 06.07.2011 14:28, Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
>> > Hello, I've had a look into your grub2tc project and I think it can
>> > be successfully changed into a GRUB2 module. extract.rb would need
>> > to be rewritten in C. tcloader.S would mostly disappear and be
>> > replaced with a small C code to set the registers and load the
>> > file. Could you tell me the expected load address and register
>> > values?
>
> All what I ever found out went into these files, so they are our only
> documentation now :)
>
They are sufficiently readable but have license problem
> What I remember was that the TC boot code expects the data blocks to
> be in one of two possible locations.
>
>> > Also current license prohibits direct use of your code in GRUB2.
>> > Could you drop the Affero clause? IT's useful mainly for
>> > network-based projects.
>
> Yes, I'm happy to relicense it as GPL3 for the use in GRUB2.
>
Best would be GPLv3+. Just drop the "Affero" word.
>> > Also a possibility is to dump the contents of MBR gap on grub-setup
>> > and if it's a truecrypt loader, save it in a file.
>
> I think I looked into this, but the code is slightly different and
> accesses data of the gap that will be overwritten by grub.  Therefore
> I decided to use the cd image boot code.
>
Ok.
>> > Do you know of any signature which can be used for this? This way
>> > we can integrate truecrypt into grub-mkconfig. Thank you in
>> > advance
>
> I'd have to go and install TC and/or read the code.  I'm pretty sure
> TC uses some signature internally, but I forget what it was.
>
Ok.
> cheers
>   simon
>
>


-- 
Regards
Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko



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