eltorito support ..

eltorito support ..

[Kalamatee]

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 Hi,

I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
the grub2 codebase at somepoint.

Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
timeline when it will be completed?

The reason I ask is we (www.aros.org) currently use grub-legacy to boot our
x86 iso's and systems however lately we are seeing a lot of development
towards ppc ports and x86_64, and therefore would like to use grub2 instead
since it supports these architectures. However atm there seems to be no
information on using grub2 to boot a cd-rom in eltorito mode or indeed how
to create/install grub2 to the iso image.

ANy information on how this can be achieved or the current state of play
would be much appreciated.

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Re: eltorito support ..

[Marco Gerards]

Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> writes:

Hi,

> I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
> for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
> the grub2 codebase at somepoint.
>
> Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
> timeline when it will be completed?

Actually, I have no idea...  Alex Roman worked on this.  Perhaps you
can contact him?  The code is on the GSoC projects page.  Robert tried
to get it to work, but IIRC there were problems.

> The reason I ask is we (www.aros.org) currently use grub-legacy to boot our
> x86 iso's and systems however lately we are seeing a lot of development
> towards ppc ports and x86_64, and therefore would like to use grub2 instead
> since it supports these architectures. However atm there seems to be no
> information on using grub2 to boot a cd-rom in eltorito mode or indeed how
> to create/install grub2 to the iso image.

Installing GRUB 2 on a CDROM is possible already, see grub-mkrescue.
However, you can't access the CDROM after booting.

> ANy information on how this can be achieved or the current state of play
> would be much appreciated.

I hope this helps.  If you want to work on this, help is welcome :-)

--
Marco

Re: eltorito support ..

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 09:30:16AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> > I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
> > for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
> > the grub2 codebase at somepoint.
> >
> > Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
> > timeline when it will be completed?
> 
> Actually, I have no idea...  Alex Roman worked on this.  Perhaps you
> can contact him?  The code is on the GSoC projects page.  Robert tried
> to get it to work, but IIRC there were problems.

I think using the ata driver would be a better approach.  When our driver
doesn't "taint" bios-based CD access, we could merge the eltorito loader from
GSoC codebase, without having to solve the problems in biosdisk CD access.

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call… if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)

Re: eltorito support ..

[Marco Gerards]

Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:

> On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 09:30:16AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
>> Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> writes:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> > I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
>> > for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
>> > the grub2 codebase at somepoint.
>> >
>> > Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
>> > timeline when it will be completed?
>> 
>> Actually, I have no idea...  Alex Roman worked on this.  Perhaps you
>> can contact him?  The code is on the GSoC projects page.  Robert tried
>> to get it to work, but IIRC there were problems.
>
> I think using the ata driver would be a better approach.  When our driver
> doesn't "taint" bios-based CD access, we could merge the eltorito loader from
> GSoC codebase, without having to solve the problems in biosdisk CD access.

I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.

--
Marco

Re: eltorito support ..

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:11:45AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:
> 
> > On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 09:30:16AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> >> Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> writes:
> >> 
> >> Hi,
> >> 
> >> > I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
> >> > for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
> >> > the grub2 codebase at somepoint.
> >> >
> >> > Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
> >> > timeline when it will be completed?
> >> 
> >> Actually, I have no idea...  Alex Roman worked on this.  Perhaps you
> >> can contact him?  The code is on the GSoC projects page.  Robert tried
> >> to get it to work, but IIRC there were problems.
> >
> > I think using the ata driver would be a better approach.  When our driver
> > doesn't "taint" bios-based CD access, we could merge the eltorito loader from
> > GSoC codebase, without having to solve the problems in biosdisk CD access.
> 
> I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.

But we are likely to get USB support this summer :-)

Besides, unlike floppy or disk boot, code size is not that much of an issue
for cdrom boot.

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call… if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)

Re: eltorito support ..

[Marco Gerards]

Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:

> On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:11:45AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
>> Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:
>> 
>> > On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 09:30:16AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
>> >> Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> writes:
>> >> 
>> >> Hi,
>> >> 
>> >> > I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
>> >> > for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
>> >> > the grub2 codebase at somepoint.
>> >> >
>> >> > Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
>> >> > timeline when it will be completed?
>> >> 
>> >> Actually, I have no idea...  Alex Roman worked on this.  Perhaps you
>> >> can contact him?  The code is on the GSoC projects page.  Robert tried
>> >> to get it to work, but IIRC there were problems.
>> >
>> > I think using the ata driver would be a better approach.  When our driver
>> > doesn't "taint" bios-based CD access, we could merge the eltorito loader from
>> > GSoC codebase, without having to solve the problems in biosdisk CD access.
>> 
>> I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.
>
> But we are likely to get USB support this summer :-)

And how about SCSI?

> Besides, unlike floppy or disk boot, code size is not that much of an issue
> for cdrom boot.

True.

--
Marco

Re: eltorito support ..

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:29:35AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> >> 
> >> I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.
> >
> > But we are likely to get USB support this summer :-)
> 
> And how about SCSI?

SCSI CDROMs ?  Mostly dead.  Even SCSI in general is diing nowadays.

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call… if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)

Re: eltorito support ..

[Marco Gerards]

Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:

> On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:29:35AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
>> >> 
>> >> I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.
>> >
>> > But we are likely to get USB support this summer :-)
>> 
>> And how about SCSI?
>
> SCSI CDROMs ?  Mostly dead.  Even SCSI in general is diing nowadays.

Right...  But still I hope CDROM support is properly implemented for
biosdisk :-)

--
Marco

Re: eltorito support ..

[Yoshinori K. Okuji]

On Tuesday 29 January 2008 12:18, Marco Gerards wrote:
> Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:
> > On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:29:35AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> >> >> I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.
> >> >
> >> > But we are likely to get USB support this summer :-)
> >>
> >> And how about SCSI?
> >
> > SCSI CDROMs ?  Mostly dead.  Even SCSI in general is diing nowadays.
>
> Right...  But still I hope CDROM support is properly implemented for
> biosdisk :-)

I agree. Using BIOS guarantees that GRUB won't interfere with BIOS code.

Okuji

Re: eltorito support ..

[Bean]

On Jan 29, 2008 5:19 PM, Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 10:11:45AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> > Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> writes:
> >
> > > On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 09:30:16AM +0100, Marco Gerards wrote:
> > >> Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> writes:
> > >>
> > >> Hi,
> > >>
> > >> > I read in previous mails that eltorito support would be getting worked on
> > >> > for the summer of code projects, and that it should be getting merged into
> > >> > the grub2 codebase at somepoint.
> > >> >
> > >> > Im just wondering what is the current situation with this? Is there any
> > >> > timeline when it will be completed?
> > >>
> > >> Actually, I have no idea...  Alex Roman worked on this.  Perhaps you
> > >> can contact him?  The code is on the GSoC projects page.  Robert tried
> > >> to get it to work, but IIRC there were problems.
> > >
> > > I think using the ata driver would be a better approach.  When our driver
> > > doesn't "taint" bios-based CD access, we could merge the eltorito loader from
> > > GSoC codebase, without having to solve the problems in biosdisk CD access.
> >
> > I prefer both.  Not all CDROM drives are ATA drives.
>
> But we are likely to get USB support this summer :-)
>
> Besides, unlike floppy or disk boot, code size is not that much of an issue
> for cdrom boot.

i think biosdisk support for cd access shouldn't be too difficult,
there is similar code in grub legacy.

-- 
Bean

Re: eltorito support ..

[Robert Millan]

On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 05:32:15PM +0800, Bean wrote:
> >
> > Besides, unlike floppy or disk boot, code size is not that much of an issue
> > for cdrom boot.
> 
> i think biosdisk support for cd access shouldn't be too difficult,
> there is similar code in grub legacy.

There's code to do this in GRUB 2 at:

  http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code-2007-gnu/downloads/list

but it isn't in a working state :-/

-- 
Robert Millan

<GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call!
<DRM> What use is a phone call… if you are unable to speak?
(as seen on /.)

Re: eltorito support ..

[Kalamatee]

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 Im not having much joy testing the eltorito support ATM.

Ive made the image using grub-mkimage, then used cat to merge the
cdboot.imgwith the core file generated using grub-mkimage, and
generated an iso with
this file but when trying to boot it the following is displayed ..


http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w131/Kalamatee/AROS64/?action=view&current=x86_64-grub2cd.jpg

Any ideas?

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Re: eltorito support ..

[Kalamatee]

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 >Im not having much joy testing the eltorito support ATM.

>Ive made the image using grub-mkimage, then used cat to merge the
cdboot.img with the core file generated >using grub-mkimage, and generated
an iso with this file but when trying to boot it the following is displayed
..

 >http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w131/Kalamatee/AROS64/?action="">
>Any ideas?

Oops... gmails reply broke the link I was meaning to show... this is the
correct screenshot of what happens..

http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w131/Kalamatee/AROS64/?action=view&current=x86_64-grub2cd.jpg

As you can see, it attempts to boot (the "welcome to grub" displays) but it
cant find one of the biosdisk funcs.

I created the core image using biosdisk and iso9660 the same as in
grub-mkrescue.

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Re: eltorito support ..

[Pavel Roskin]

On Tue, 2008-03-04 at 12:22 +0000, Kalamatee wrote: 
> >Im not having much joy testing the eltorito support ATM.
>  
> >Ive made the image using grub-mkimage, then used cat to merge the
> cdboot.img with the core file generated >using grub-mkimage, and
> generated an iso with this file but when trying to boot it the
> following is displayed ..
>  
> >http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w131/Kalamatee/AROS64/?action="">
> >Any ideas?
>  
> Oops... gmails reply broke the link I was meaning to show... this is
> the correct screenshot of what happens..
>  
> http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w131/Kalamatee/AROS64/?action=view&current=x86_64-grub2cd.jpg

It's possible that you have hit the same problem I encountered a while
ago.  gensymlist.sh doesn't have protection against compiler errors.
So, if you set CC to something with a space, like "gcc -Dfoo", it will
fail silently but produce symlist.c without any symbols, that would
still be a valid C file.

The bug is still there.

./configure CC="gcc -Dfoo"
make
./grub-mkrescue --grub-mkimage=./grub-mkimage --pkglibdir=. grub.iso
qemu -cdrom grub.iso

The error message is just like yours.  symlist.c has an empty symbol
table: 

static struct symtab tab[] =
  {
    {0, 0}
  };

Sorry, I should have reported it earlier.  

The right fix would be to ensure that symlist.c would be invalid if the
compiler fails, to protect compiler arguments, to capture compiler
errors in gensymlist.sh and to recognize gensymlist.sh failure in the
makefile.  We have several layers of protection failing here.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: eltorito support ..

[Pavel Roskin]

On Tue, 2008-03-04 at 10:49 -0500, Pavel Roskin wrote:

> Sorry, I should have reported it earlier.  
> 
> The right fix would be to ensure that symlist.c would be invalid if
> the
> compiler fails, to protect compiler arguments, to capture compiler
> errors in gensymlist.sh and to recognize gensymlist.sh failure in the
> makefile.  We have several layers of protection failing here.

Should be fixed now.  CC is quoted in gensymlist.sh now, and if an empty
symtab is generated nevertheless, symlist.c won't compile, and make will
notice it.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: eltorito support ..

[Kalamatee]

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Pavel Roskin wrote ..
>Sorry, I should have reported it earlier.

>The right fix would be to ensure that symlist.c would be invalid if the
>compiler fails, to protect compiler arguments, to capture compiler
>errors in gensymlist.sh and to recognize gensymlist.sh failure in the
>makefile.  We have several layers of protection failing here.

Ahh thanks! yes that IS the problem here.

Ive worked around it locally and ..

On VmWare LS doesnt list the cd currently - only (fd0) and (hd0)
- but atleast it boots to the rescue prompt =D
On Qemu though it seems to be working as expected - thanks for all your
help.

Ill watch for activity in the repository and see when the vmware cd issue is
resolved.

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Re: eltorito support ..

[Jeff Chua]

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Kalamatee <kalamatee@gmail.com> wrote:
> Pavel Roskin wrote ..
> >Sorry, I should have reported it earlier.
>
> >The right fix would be to ensure that symlist.c would be invalid if the
> >compiler fails, to protect compiler arguments, to capture compiler
> >errors in gensymlist.sh and to recognize gensymlist.sh failure in the
>  >makefile.  We have several layers of protection failing here.
>
> Ahh thanks! yes that IS the problem here.
>
> Ive worked around it locally and ..
>
> On VmWare LS doesnt list the cd currently - only (fd0) and (hd0) - but
> atleast it boots to the rescue prompt =D
> On Qemu though it seems to be working as expected - thanks for all your
> help.
>
> Ill watch for activity in the repository and see when the vmware cd issue is
> resolved.

Count me in as well. The same CD does work on kvm.

Jeff.